More Broken
by crescentmoonthemage
Summary: Eponine, Enjolras and all the rest are sophomores at Musain High. Eponine is broken, she has nowhere to turn to, nowhere to hide. When she meets the marble leader of a failed group for revolutions, he fixes her, What will happen when she realizes that the boy who fixed her is more broken then she ever was? *CHAPTER 25 UP!* :) Eventual E/E
1. Chapter 1: Does Anybody Care?

**Hello everybody! This is my first attempt at a Les Miz fanfic, so bear with me. Also, it is a modern AU, and if you couldn't guess it's Eppy/Enjy. Enjoy!**

"Ponine!" a voice called. Eponine Thenardier lifted up her head from her sketch and looked over as Marius Pontmercy ran toward her. She grinned, and her heart lifted up as high as the sky. "What's up, Marius?" she asked, a smile completing her words. "I need your help." He grabbed her hand, but failed to notice her blush as he dragged her towards the parking lot of Musain High.

He let her hand go next to his car and stars had begun to form in his eyes as he stared a few spots over. "Can you find out her name, 'Ponine?" he asked, pointing towards a girl standing by a nice convertible. She had long blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes, and a pretty pink dress. Eponine's eyes widened.

"So, 'Ponine? Can you go talk to her? I need to know her name!" But while Marius had meant his words to be kind, every one of them pierced Eponine like a knife. Her amber eyes filled with pain as she whispered: "Cosette."

"Cosette? Thank you, Eponine!" Marius exclaimed as he raced over to her. "Cosette." she whispered again, tears welling in her eyes. Why would he ever look at me? Why would be care? He never cared. These thoughts raced through Eponine's mind as she ran off, away from Marius, away from Cossette, away from pain.

Eponine walked slowly down the empty street. She didn't want to go back. She didn't want to go home. So, she just stood, empty and broken, on the sidewalk, ripped jeans showing her knees and too-small boots pinching her feet.

Clouds covered the sky and rain softly began to fall on Eponine, sitting on a corner of the sidewalk, arms wrapped around her knees. That was when she finally let the tears fall. Stupid Marius. He was the only thing she had, and then, he was gone.

Enjolras came out of Musain High after finishing a test. His arms were laden with books and his bag was heavy on his back. His red waistcoat blew around him in a light breeze. He pulled out his phone: 4:20. He sighed and began the long walk back to his apartment.

About halfway there, it began to rain. Sighing, he unconsciously turned toward the buildings so he could walk under the awning. That was when the sound of sobbing reached his ears. He looked over and saw a dark-haired girl, sitting, soaked, on the sidewalk, crying like her best friend had just died. He was about to brush it off and keep walking when he looked at her again and realized that he knew her.

She was Marius's shadow. Now that he thought about it, he had seen her hanging around Marius almost every time Enjolras had seen him. He sighed. "Why am I doing this?" he mumbled, and set his books down under the awning before walking over to her.

Enjolras sat down next to her, rain beginning to beat down on him, soaking his white shirt and waistcoat and plastering his golden curls to his head. She looked at him with sad hazel eyes. "Aren't you Marius's friend?" she asked weakly. "I am." he replied. "And you are Marius's shadow."

The dark haired girl smiled sadly. "Yeah. I am."

Enjolras looked at her curiously. "You say it like it's a bad thing."

She looked down, a tear rolling down her cheek in the rain. "After today, it might be."

"I've seen you around Marius a lot, but I never actually learned your name. Mine's Enjolras."

"Eponine." she replied quietly.

"Aren't you cold, sitting here in the rain?"

"Yeah, but it's better then going home."

"What's home?" he asked, a bit of concern in his heart that came out in his voice.

"What do you care, Enjolras? Nobody cares about me," she said, getting up.

"Nobody?" he asked, incredulous and a bit concerned.

A tear rolled down her cheek as her sad brown eyes gazed at him. "Yeah. Nobody." she whispered, and then began to walk down the street, leaving Enjolras to wonder.

Eponine walked down the alleyway and gagged as she smelled cigarette smoke and whiskey. Welcome home, she thought sadly. She pushed open the door to the cramped apartment she lived in. The lights were all out. She breathed a small sigh of relief and tried to creep to the room she and Azelma shared. But all her hopes were dashed when she heard a voice growl: "Where were you, whore?

"I was doing my…homework at school. S…someone was helping me." she stammered. "OH YEAH?" he shouted, and punched her in the eye. "YOU'LL DO YOUR HOMEWORK ONCE YOU'VE EARNED ME SOME MONEY!" Her father slapped her across the cheek, making tears come to her eyes. "YOU WILL NOT DO THIS AGAIN, WHORE? YOU HEAR ME? NEVER AGAIN!"

Eponine ran out onto the street, eye blackening, tears coursing down her cheeks. She ran down side streets and alleyways, past shops and cars, through the pouring rain. She finally ended up in a small park, lit only by a single streetlight.

She sank to her knees, staring at the sky.

"Oh god." she whispered. "Do you care? Does anyone care? I am so alone. So, so alone."

**Love you guys! Did you enjoy Chapter #1? Also, I want at least two more reviews for the next chapter because I want to know what you guys think. Bye, lovelies!**


	2. Chapter 2: Mon Dieu

**Hello again lovelies! I have already received two reviews! So a special shout out goes to BroadwayActingChic15. Also, another shoutout goes to PhoenixGirl97! Thanks to you both, and I'm glad you love it. So, as a reward for the positive feedback I have received from you guys, here's another chapter!**

Enjolras finally closed his book. He glanced at his clock, gently ticking on the dark wall. 11:30. He sighed and ran his hands through his golden curls, thinking back to the girl on the street. She had looked so broken, and alone, sitting they're in the rain. He had guessed that it had something to do with Marius, given the way she had talked about him, but he thought that there was something more, hiding there. Enjolras had no feelings. He was a marble man, and didn't understand love, but as he thought of the small, broken girl on the street, a small crack appeared in his marble heart. He didn't know it, but it was there.

Enjolras climbed into bed and turned out the light, but sleep just wouldn't come. There was too much on his mind, thoughts of selfish Pontmercy, of his studies, but most of all the girl on the sidewalk. What was her name? Emma? Ellen? He felt a flush in his cheeks for not remembering her name. But, he thought, all she was was a brown haired girl. She didn't mean anything to him. He had bigger things on his mind then her. Didn't he?

Hard as Enjolras tried, he couldn't shake the thoughts of the dark-haired girl out of his mind. He sighed and got out of bed. He needed to clear his head.

He laced his boots and put on his crimson waistcoat before locking his apartment quietly and stepping out onto the dark street. His feet took him down the lane, and before he even knew where he was going, he ended up walking the paths of his favorite park. He strolled about, not knowing or particularly caring where he was going. He came upon a small path, leading by some trees and benches, lit by a single streetlight. He noticed a figure sleeping on one of the benches, dark haired, slender, in faded jeans and a ripped t-shirt, small arms wrapped around her knees to keep warm on the chill October night. He was about to pay the girl, for he realized it was a girl, no mind, but then, the events of earlier came rushing back to him.

Eponine.

"Mon dieu." said Enjolras quietly.

Eponine was awoken by the sound of faint footsteps. She shivered a bit, on the park bench, and wrapped her arms tighter around her knees. She lay very still, hoping the person walking would not see her.

Sure enough, the footsteps passed, and Eponine breathed a small sigh of relief. But then, the steps stopped, and her breath caught in her throat. Then, she heard a familiar voice, quiet and a bit exasperated. "Mon dieu."

Eponine sat up and whirled around. Sure enough, her amber eyes met pure blue ones, and for a moment, Eponine and Enjolras just stood, looking at each other. She finally broke the awkward silence by saying: "Enjolras? What are you doing here?"

His voice sounding a bit stiff, Enjolras replied: "I could ask the same of you, Miss." She sighed. "It's a long story."

He looked at her one last time: "Well, if you're happy on your park bench, I'd best be on my way." He began to walk off, but Eponine stopped him with a small: "Wait." He turned around, a questioning look in his blue eyes. "I can't go home tonight. That's why I'm sleeping here. There's too much… tension for me to go back.

Enjolras locked eyes with her, and she thought she saw a tiny hint of pity hidden there. "Don't you have anyone to go?" Eponine couldn't help it, her eyes filled with tears. Enjolras sighed. "Perhaps you can come back to my apartment for the night, at least until your home situation gets better."

Eponine smiled a small, grateful smile, and stood up from the cold bench to stand by Enjolras. He offered her his jacket, which she took, noting the comforting smell of paper that came from it. He motioned for her to follow, and she came along, with small steps padding gently on the dirt of the park.

Enjolras let her to a darkened apartment building and up some musty smelling stairs before stopping in front of Number 11. He unlocked the door, and she stepped inside, breathing in the air.

He turned on the lights, and said: "Well, here's my house. I'm afraid I don't have a spare bedroom, but the couch is a pull out. Just make yourself comfortable there and I'll see you in the morning. Blankets are in the closet." Then, Enjolras disappeared into his bedroom, closing the door. Eponine stared after him, eyes pricked with grateful tears as she lay down. Getting no blankets, she simply used Enjolras's red coat to cover herself, and was soon lost in the land of dreams.

A few moments after he had shut the door, Enjolras remembered that Eponine still had his treasured red coat. Sighing, he quietly opened the door in order to retrieve it.

The lights were off, and he could hear the sound of her soft, even, breathing. He crept into the living room, only to find that Eponine was using his coat as a blanket. He sighed, and tucked a stray curl behind his ear. "Mon dieu." he whispered.

**French translation:**

**Mon dieu: My god. (As in sarcastically, like "Oh my god" or "Really?")**

**Thanks for all the support so far! **

**+1 Review for next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3: Cologne and Paper

**Thank you SO MUCH for all the positive reviews! (Especially since I just published this yesterday.) I have a few shout outs to make: Bam It's Rachel, .9, PhantomFandom, PhoenixGirl97, Theatregirls2317 and BroadwayActingChic15! I love you all so much, and you don't know how much your support means to me. So, to thank you, here's an extra-super-long chapter with some fluffiness! Bye!**

Eponine awoke with a start and found herself staring at a grey wall. She sat up, head muddled with the events of the previous day. Where was she? And why did she have a red coat wrapped around herself?

Eponine heard the slight squeak of a door opening behind her. She whirled around, only to see a man about her age, with golden curls sticking up every which way, and blue eyes bleary from sleep.

Enjolras.

Suddenly, Eponine remembered where she was, then a sinking feeling settled in her gut. She couldn't go home now. Not after running away. She'd just be beaten bloody by her father, a wanted man.

Mr. Thenardier was wanted by the government for crimes related to child abuse, drug abuse, rape, prosecution, and more things that she couldn't even remember. He wouldn't hesitate for a second before beating his two daughters or his 8 year old son unconscious. That was why Eponine had smuggled Gavroche out in the dead of night and brought him to a foster home, where, as far as she knew, still lived in, in the other side of the city.

She shivered, and wrapped Enjolras's coat around herself, before setting miserably back on the couch. Her Saturday was ruined, her life was probably completely screwed up even worse then before.

She whimpered quietly, and out of the corner of her eye noticed Enjolras retreat to the apartment's kitchen awkwardly. She sat, sort of dazed on the couch, before a glimmer of hope settled in her mind. If she could pull it off….

No, she chided herself. It's a silly hope, and it wouldn't work anyway. But still, there was a small part of her that wondered, what if?

She heard Enjolras clear his throat from the kitchen, drawing her out of her reverie. She got up and walked toward the kitchen, offering him back his red coat. He just shook his head. "From what I've seen, you need it more then I do. Besides, I can just buy another one."

She nodded in thanks and sat down at the table, coat still wrapped around her petite figure. He set a bowl of cereal in front of her and everything was silent as the pair ate.

When they were done, he grabbed their bowls and set them in the sink. "Well, do you need to stay another day?" The hopeful part of her mind said, "No! I have a plan!", but the much larger part of her that doubted wanted to nod. However, the hopeful part won, and so she said: "That's alright, Enjolras. You've done enough already." Then, she crammed her tight boots over her toes, trying not to wince at the squashed toes it caused her. She put on the red jacket and stood up from the table.

Enjolras gave a curt nod and watched as she opened the apartment door, and was gone, taking his prized jacket with her. What had he been thinking last night? Letting a strange girl into his apartment, letting her sleep on the couch and then giving her breakfast and his jacket? Sometimes. Enjolras didn't understand himself.

He shook his head and went back into the kitchen to wash the breakfast bowls, lost in thought about Eponine. He put the dishes in the cabinet and was alerted from his daydreaming by a drinking song loudly playing. He ran his fingers through his hair, and dug through his pockets to find his phone.

A large "R" was on the screen of his phone. Enjolras picked up. "What's up, R?"

The very slurred and hungover voice of Grantaire greeted him. "Hey, Enjy. I need your help setting up for the party tonight. It's a group party, for all of us awesome people."

Enjolras sighed. "Oh, alright. I'll be right over. But only if you promise not to call me Enjy."

The voice of Grantaire was heard saying something like a yes, so Enjolras hung up and laced up his boots.

Eponine walked down the street. She had a plan in mind and was going to go through with it. She couldn't go home, what with her abusive father. So what is she made a new home?

Eponine stuffed her hands in the pockets of Enjolras's, no, her coat, she reminded herself, and was surprised to find a wad of money. She smiled, to herself, and walked inside the nearest store to buy some chips.

She walked around the corner and froze at the figure she saw walking down the street toward her. It was Marius. There was no mistaking the tall red-haired figure that walked with a self-righteous stride toward her. She pressed herself against the glass of the nearest store, hoping he wouldn't notice her, but it was no use.

He strode right up to her, with an exclamation of "Ponine!" She shrank away, but he didn't notice, instead going on and on about "beautiful Cosette, and wonderful Cosette, and thank you Eponine, you're the best, and can you give her this note for me please?"

To Eponine's horror, she found herself agreeing to deliver the letter, and Marius pressed it into her hand, before squeezing her tight to him. "Ponine, you are the best!"

For a brief moment, Eponine could just forget about everything but the thrilling, tingling sensation of being held by her love. She leaned into his shoulder and breathed in the fresh, but not overpowering smell of good cologne on him. In the back of her mind she noted that Marius's cologne didn't smell half as good as the warm smell of paper coming from Enjolras's red coat.

But too soon, Marius's warm embrace was gone and Eponine heard him faintly asking something about a party. "What?" she asked. "I said," began Marius, with a hint of humor in his voice. "Are you coming to Grantaire's party tonight?"

Eponine thought for a moment, before replying: "I hadn't heard of a party before now. Perhaps I will. I have to do something first."

"I'll wait here for you, if it won't take long." said Marius. A warm feeling rose in Eponine's heart, and she smiled warmly. "I'll be right back, then. Don't leave!" Then, grinning, Eponine ran off, down the street, the tails of the red waistcoat flapping in the wind.

Eponine didn't stop running until she saw the faded brick walls of Musain High looming in front of her. She had noticed the small janitor's shed in the bushes by the school numerous times, but she'd never really thought about it. Now, since she couldn't go back to her father, it was to be her home.

She pushed open the wooden door. It opened easily, and threw clouds of dust in the air. No bigger then a walk-in closet really, it had a musty couch in the center. Eponine gently placed a pillow and blanket she'd smuggled from Enjolras's house on the musty couch, as well as the food she'd bought from the gas station, before gently closing the door and running back to where Marius had met her.

As she rounded the corner, she noted with immense relief that he was still standing there, but then her heart dropped to her feet, breaking like glass.

Cosette was there too.

**Thank you SO MUCH for all the support! I love you all! Also, if you have any ideas, feel free to inbox me. I love ideas! Thanks again, and bye lovelies! Till next time!**


	4. Chapter 4: Grantaire's Party

**Hey again lovelies! I can't say how proud I am of you all! 10 reviews for only 3-soon-to-be-four chapters. Anyway, I love you all! Thanks, and keep reading!**

Enjolras was not good at party planning, or setting up, or whatever Grantaire was making him do. He had started by going to buy ibuprofen for Grantaire's epic hangover headache, and that had transformed into cleaning his friend's house and making sure there was enough beer and then cooking. Enjolras was just…over it all.

Luckily, he was saved by the doorbell. He heard Grantaire running to get it, and had to stifle a snort as he heard a loud crashing noise and some very creative cursing. Enjolras figured that Grantaire probably couldn't open the door, so he walked over and got the door himself.

Outside were standing Marius and a blonde-haired girl in a pink dress. They came in, with friendly "hellos" and that was only when he noticed Eponine.

She had lingered behind them, and he noticed no little amount of pain in her dark eyes. She was wearing the same clothes that she had left his house in, and he noted that she was wearing his red jacket. "Hi, Enjolras." she said quietly. "What's wrong?" he asked, feeling awkward.

She sighed. "Marius and Cosette are the problems. And everything else. To be truthful, there's nothing in my life that's not a problem right now."

Enjolras couldn't help it, he felt a bit hurt. "Nothing?" he asked. A humorous glint appeared in her eyes. "Well, if you count as nothing, then yeah. But from what I've seen, you are far from nothing." she smiled a small smile that made her eloquent words even prettier.

Enjolras opened the door a bit wider. "So, 'Ponine, you coming in?"

She smiled and brushed past him to go inside the house.

"38, 39, 40! Ready or not, here I come!" came the voice of Jehan from the living room. Eponine was in the back of a closet, buried beneath some clothing that she guessed was Grantaire's, as it smelled strongly of brandy.

Eponine heard the footsteps of Jehan draw nearer, and then the closet door opened, flooding Eponine with light. She watched in silence as Jehan looked around her, and, seeing nothing, closed the door again.

This went on for about 20 minutes, until Eponine could hear a cacophony of voices from the living room. It seemed that she was the topic of conversation; most of what everyone was saying ranged from: "Where's Eponine?" to "Ponine can really hide."

Then, she heard another voice, and with a start, realized that it was Marius. "Let's not worry about 'Ponine. Let's play something else, and she'll come out sooner or later."

Eponine's eyes widened and tears began to form. That was when she heard another voice. "Eponine is your friend, Pontmercy. You may not think that, but she does. Perhaps you should look for her."

She realized that it was the voice of Enjolras she was hearing. For a moment, she smiled. Then, she realized that was how Marius had acted at the beginning too. Kind and sweet and lovely. Enjolras would just forget about her sooner or later. Marius had.

Eponine opened the closet door and marched down to the living room, where everyone fell silent. Hatred and sadness clear in her voice, she said: "Thanks, guys, for caring about me. That was sweet."

Then she put her boots on and was about to grab the red coat when she realized that like Marius, Enjolras was probably just as temporary and would hurt her just as much. So, she decided to forget him and Marius both.

Pointedly leaving the red coat hanging on its hook, she turned on her heel and strode out the door onto the street.

If she would have looked back, she would have seen the hurt look in Enjolras's eyes. If she would have looked back, she would have seen him sock Marius in the jaw, then grab his coat and run after her. If she would have looked back, she would have heard him yelling: "Ponine! Don't go!"

But she didn't look back.

**Sorry this is a saddish one, but that's Les Miz for you. It'll get better soon. Also, this is not the climax! I hope this will be a very long story and this is just to shake things up. Bye Lovelies!**


	5. Chapter 5: Battle of the Minds

**Hello Lovelies! I am SOOO impressed with you all. To anyone who's reviewed, followed, or favorited, THANK YOU! You don't know how much it means to me. Anyway, ENJoy! (Did you get that?)**

Enjolras walked into Musain High early Monday morning, curls blowing haphazardly around his face in the wind and red coat back on his shoulders.

A stack of books was heavy in his arms and even though the halls were virtually empty, he scanned them again and again for someone he knew was not there.

Thoughts of Eponine flitted through his mind, and were gone again in a flash, leaving him breathless. The bigger, more Enjolras side of him constantly reminded him that all Eponine was, was a girl. "You don't care about girls." the voce in his head chided him. But there was a tiny part of him that had been forming ever since that crack in his marble heart began to form, that always told him: "But, 'Ponine's not just any girl. And you like girls."

Both sides of him were right. Enjolras did not like girls. He thought they were loud, obnoxious, and hard to understand. But, he did like Eponine, sort of. Every time he was around her, the tiny part of him that was not at all Enjolras-like would come out and the stern, commanding side of him would stay locked away.

The crack in his heart grew ever bigger.

Eponine closed the door to her little shed and strode inside the school. She headed down the main hall, to go to her locker, but then noticed two figures standing by her locker, and she immediately retreated the other way.

One was in a familiar red waistcoat, golden curls disheveled but handsome. The other was tall, red haired, and in a gray vest. Why were Marius and Enjolras so hard to avoid? She shook the unpleasant thoughts of the two out of her mind, and, picking a pencil up off the floor, headed to class.

At lunchtime, Eponine again tried to head for her locker, and again found her path barred by the two she wished to avoid. A part of her was asking why she wanted to stay away from the boys that were her friends, and the other part of her reminded her that Marius didn't care about her anymore, and if she let Enjolras in, he would forget about her as swiftly as Marius had.

She walked up to the lunchroom and sat down in her usual corner spot, lost in thought. In fact, she was so deeply lost that nothing could pull her out of her reverie but another one of Marius's friends. She looked up and finally placed his name. Joly.

Joly sat down next to her and pulled out a piece of paper. "Marius wants me to give this to you so you can give it to Cossette." He handed the folded paper to her and then with a small nod, left for another table.

Eponine glanced about to make sure no one was watching, and then she unfolded to paper.

Dear Cossette, it read.

I have never met anyone like you in all my years. You are beautiful, kind, funny, smart, and as radiant as the sun. No, more then the sun! You shine brighter then every star in the universe, Cossette!

I am so lucky to have met you. You are a gift from the angels. No, you are an angel. Even your hair shines, Cossette! You are the most wonderful, wonderful girl I've ever had to fortune to run across. And so glad I am that I have run across you!

I know you feel the same, Cossette, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Love,

Marius.

As Eponine began to read, she mentally replaced every Cossette with an Eponine and before she even knew what she was doing, had replaced Marius with Enjolras. She stared down at the paper in shock. "Is that really what I want?" she thought. With no more hesitation, she strode across the room and dumped the paper in the trash, mind roiling.

Enjolras stuffed his book bag as full as it would go, then grabbed the other books he needed from his locker before deftly closing it with a foot. He scanned the hall another time, and to his immense relief, saw Eponine moving towards the door. He began to dash madly down the hall, trying to catch her before she left.

As he neared the door, he saw that she was talking to Marius. He stopped in his tracks. Stupid Pontmercy, he thought. Ruining everything.

"Wait, ruining everything?" the other part of him thought. "What's to ruin? You don't even like her!" a voice in his head yelled. Enjolras sighed, before heading towards the door.

He strode down the street, eager to get back to his apartment and drown himself in studies. There was that French Revolution project that needed to get done, and those math problems. There were also notes to be taken, and he needed to read another section in Les Miserables…

Enjolras smiled faintly. Studies always took precedence in both sides of his mind.

Enjolras had just turned on the light in his apartment when there was a huge thunderclap. The lights flickered once, then went out. Great, he thought. Can't do homework without light…

He dumped his stuff on his bed, then went to microwave himself some leftovers. Oh yeah, he thought bleakly. Microwave's out, too. He opened his fridge and saw with some dismay that most of it was leftovers. He sighed. Food was the other thing both sides of his brain agreed on.

Enjolras dug through the pockets of his scarlet coat before finding some money. McDonalds will have to do, he thought. before throwing his coat on and stepping out into the pouring rain.

Once he had finished his burger, he was resolved to go check the power at his own place. He hurried down the street, rain beating down on him, soaking his coat and his curls.

Suddenly, a very mangy-looking man burst out of the door of a nearby store and ran into Enjolras. "Watch where you're going, asshole." he growled. Enjolras was about to make some sardonic response, but then he heard the man mutter: "I'm going to find you, 'Ponine."

'Ponine? Enjolras thought for a moment, and then began to follow the man down the street.

**Hi Lovelies! I hope you enjoyed this one! Anyway, I need to ask you a survey question:**

**Should Gavroche be in this? **

**I'm thinking about it, but I'm not sure, and I need advice.**


	6. Chapter 6: Of Punches Thrown

**Hello Lovelies! As a request from iwishiwereabrit, I am trying to make my chapters longer. So, here is Chapter 6! Enjoy! And also, I'm changing the name of this story to "More Broken." Just a warning! Anyway, thanks for all the feedback. See you soon Lovelies!**

Eponine glared at the rain dripping through the roof of her little shed. Luckily, there was nothing in that corner but cheaply made flooring. But, it was giving her a time with homework. There was an outlet and a light in the shed, but the power had gone out, and it was rather dark.

She dug through her worn-out bag and came up triumphant, a crinkled 20 dollar bill in her hand. She did feel a hint of remorse at stealing it from Enjolras's coat. She was a Thenardier, they stole things. But she also hated that she was poor enough to have to depend on other people's charity, given knowingly or not.

Eponine pulled the hood of her dirty and faded sweatshirt up over her head and stepped out into the rain, determined to buy a little flashlight so she could study for her French History test. Unlike any of the other Thenardiers before her, she wanted to be successful in life.

She sloshed down the street, trying to avoid the numerous puddles that were swiftly appearing due to the deluge. Her mind wandered back and forth, from Enjolras to Marius, from red to gray, from curly to freckled, from paper to cologne.

Many of the stores' windows were dark, making her think that her search for a flashlight might just be in vain. Heck, the flashlights are probably all getting used by employees, she thought. But, light or not, she was going to pass that French History test.

Enjolras strolled down the street, looking as nonchalant as possible as to not make it obvious that he was following someone. That someone was a mangy looking, angry man that had mentioned the name "Ponine." Enjolras had heard this and was now following the man down the street.

Maybe this man can lead me to Eponine, thought Enjolras. Maybe we can make amends…

Wait, another part of him said. You haven't done anything wrong! Well, the other part of Enjolras retorted, she seemed to think so.

Enjolras groaned. At times like this, he felt as if there were two people locked inside his mind arguing and he could do nothing about it. There were some things his mind disagreed on, on of which was 'Ponine.

'Ponine… he mused. I would love to be friends with her. She's so… different, and seems so pained. I want to help keep that pain away. But what if the pain is because of me? Enjolras tried so very hard to keep his mind from wandering down that unpleasant path, even mentally quizzing himself for that French History test he had the next day. But his mind delved deeper into the mysteries of Eponine, and he grimaced as he followed the man a few more blocks.

Suddenly, Enjolras's phone buzzed loudly, jerking him out of his reverie. He pulled it out, grateful for the distraction.

**New Text**

**From: R**

**To: Enjolras**

**Hey Enjy, get over to the school. I found something exciting!**

Enjolras sighed, before muttering: "I am NOT Enjy."

He typed quickly:

**Busy now, R. And DON'T CALL ME ENJY!**

For a moment, Enjolras imagined the probably inebriated Grantaire laughing idiotically, breath reeking of whiskey.

**New Text**

**From: R**

**To: Enjolras**

**Fine then, Gregory. But you really should come.**

When the text reached Enjolras, he resisted the urge to find Grantaire and strangle him. Nobody used his first name, and nobody really knew it. How Enjolras's name came to Grantaire's ears, he had no idea. He typed back:

**HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW MY NAME? **

Enjolras glanced forward, enough to make sure the man was still in front of him. He looked around, confused. The scruffy man was gone! Enjolras whirled around and looked behind him, then looked in all the shop windows and even the next block over.

Rain was still beating down, soaking Enjolras's golden curls but making his intense blue eyes shine all the brighter. Suddenly, Enjolras felt a warm breath in his ear, smelling of cheap beer and cigarette smoke. "Don't move, asshole," the voice said.

A list of outcomes ran through Enjolras's mind, and he stood very, very still. Then, the best option came to light and Enjolras whirled around, curls flying and the scruffy looking man had a sly grin on his face.

"I've heard of you…" he purred. "I've heard that you're rich. Can you spare some money for a poor, broken, soul?"

Broken… The gears of Enjolras's mind began to turn and he spat out the name hanging on the tip of his tongue. "Eponine." he growled.

Instantly, the man's smile vanished and his eyes became pools of hate and raw anger. "WHERE'S EPONINE, YOU BLONDE-HAIRED THIEF?"

That statement made Enjolras quite confused. "I was following you because I thought you knew." The scruffy man growled. "You were following me." he stated, a dangerously hard edge to his rough voice. Enjolras just stood, not saying a word. The man circled him. "YOU FOLLOWED ME!" he shouted, and punched Enjolras in the eye.

He tried to fight back, but it became obvious from the beginning that the scruffy man was more skilled in the rough art of street fighting. Enjolras tried to throw a punch, but the man grabbed his arm and twisted it viciously. Enjolras winced as he heard a crack, and then the sharp pang of pain that accompanied it. The man grinned foully.

Eponine walked down the street, mad that the power was still out. She still searched every hardware store window, but the lights were all out. Suddenly, she heard shouting and saw a few people running around the corner. She followed them around the corner and gasped.

There were two men fighting in the street. They had gathered quite a crowd, quite a few of which were trying to pull the pair apart. That wasn't what made her stand stalk-still, staring with wide eyes at Enjolras and her father fighting in the middle of the street.

For a moment, she stood in shock as she watched Enjolras being beat up in the middle of the street. She winced at the way he held one of his arms and the blood in his curls. She winced at the evil grin on her father's face as he punched one of the only people she held dear without mercy. She winced at the foul laugh that reached her eyes.

She swiftly made up her mind and her feet began to move as she ran into the middle of the street, with a loud shriek of "STOP!"

Both Enjolras and her father looked up in shock at little, broken, Eponine approaching. Her father got over his shock well and advanced toward her, fury ablaze in her eyes. She looked at Enjolras for help, but all she saw in his blue eyes was fear, shock, and pain. Lots of pain.

She was so caught up in the beauty of his blue eyes that she screamed when her father punched her in the eye. "WHERE WERE YOU, WHORE?" She didn't answer, just shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "WHERE WERE YOU?" he shouted again. Tears were coursing down her face as she struggled to get free, to no avail. He shook her by her hair, baring his stump teeth at her. She struggled, and some of her dark locks were ripped off her head by her father's strong hands.

Suddenly, her father dropped her. She whirled around in shock, hands in front of her face for protection, to see Enjolras kick her father in the balls, a strange mix of hatred and fear visible in his ocean colored eyes.

Her father got up and came toward her, growling. She backed away in fear. Enjolras turned toward her, and they locked eyes for a split second. "This is why I can't go home, Enjolras. I'm so, so sorry I brought you into this."

Then, with fear in her eyes and doubt in her heart, she turned around and ran down the street, the girl, broken in spirit, running away from her father, broken in mind, and Enjolras, broken in body.

The next morning, Eponine walked into school with a heavy heart. The sky was cloudy, and the only way she could cover up her many bruises was with a small supply of makeup she had, which, sadly, would wash off in the rain.

When she came inside the doors, a flock of blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls much like Cossette ran up to her. They surrounded her, barraging her with questions like: "Were you in the fight yesterday?" "Did you see Enjolras get hurt?" "Is Enjolras okay?" "Why did you hurt him?"

Eponine sighed; more members of the Enjolras Fan Club, she assumed. All the girls in the school loved Enjolras. They all thought he was kind, handsome, strong, caring. However, it was a school of 5000, and Eponine felt a twinge of envy at all those girls caring about someone that they didn't even know, whereas she knew him, and he was noting like that. He was distant, unattached. Sure, he was good-looking, and sure, he was strong, but that was it. He was a marble statue, nice to look at, but cold and hard in the center.

Suddenly, she was pushed against the wall. She threw her hands in front of her face in protection and looked up, terrified dark eyes meeting hard blue ones. There were golden curls hanging around his face, disheveled, and his arm was in a sling. "Hi, Enjolras." she began, trying to sound cheerful.

"Who was that, `Ponine?" he asked, an icy knife-edge in his voice.

"Who was who?" she asked innocently. He just stared at her, with those piercing blue eyes. "You know who." he supplied, a dangerously low tone to his voice. She shuddered, eyes filling with fear. "He was… he was." she tried.

"WHO WAS HE?" Enjolras shouted, scaring the living hell out of everyone in the hallway. "He was…" she tried again, voice faltering.

"TELL ME!" Enjolras bellowed. "My… my father. That man was my father." she whispered. "Let me go. I don't know what you want from me, Enjolras, but I won't give it to you." she whimpered, cowering in front of his icy gaze.

She dared to look up at him another time and saw he had dropped his gaze, eyes filled with shame. "I'm sorry, Eponine." he said quietly, and then walked off.

Eponine was shocked. To go from menacing to ashamed and sad in a matter of seconds was somewhat of a feat, especially for Enjolras, who, it appeared, had feelings after all.

She began to walk down the hallway to her locker, and then turned around. She scanned the hallway, and to her great relief, saw a head of blonde curls near the other end. She sighed. "Am I really doing this?" she muttered. Then, looking down the hallway, she saw Enjolras about to ascend the stairway. With a shout of "WAIT!" she began to run down the hall. She reached Enjolras and stopped behind him, but he did not turn around.

So, she just darted up the stairs and stopped in front of him, arms crossed and a sly smile on her face. His eyes darted up and met hers. He managed a small, but grateful smile. "Hello, 'Ponine."

**Hello Lovelies! Sorry I haven't updated in a few days, I've been busy. But anyway, did you enjoy? I hope so!**


	7. Chapter 7: Raspberries and the Color Red

**Hello, my lovelies! I am so sorry that I have not updated in a few days as there were finals-grrrrrrr… In other news, I'm moving! So, if I don't update much this summer, I have not abandoned it, I'm just doing packing and the such. So, on with the chapter!**

**p.s: at the end, there's a bit of fluff but NO SKIPPY SKIPPY! Read the chapter first, please!**

Enjolras strode down the street. He checked his watch; he was already late to the Habitat for Humanity meeting that he had organized. That was when he realized that his watch had broken. Growling, he reached in a pocket to pull out his phone, but then realized that it was in the pocket of his beloved red jacket. Which, he realized, with a sigh, Eponine had. "I probably left money in that thing, too," he muttered, trying his hardest not to break into a full run.

Suddenly, he heard shouting. He looked down the street; he noticed what appeared to be a lady throwing someone out of her store. "Stay out, scum!" the lady growled.

Enjolras looked at the girl the lady had thrown out. She had long, dark hair and was wearing a too-big jacket that appeared to be red.

The girl got up, muttering something that Enjolras couldn't hear as she brushed past him. Only when Enjolras was halfway down the street did he realize that the girl was Eponine. He turned around, only to see her vanish around a corner.

He cursed, and was luckily saved by Courfeyrac, his Habitat for Humanity comrade coming down the street. "Courfeyrac! Run the meeting for me! I need to do something." The shocked flirt could only say: "Uh, okay," before Enjolras sprinted down the street. He backpedaled to a stop and stared down the street where Eponine had gone to and didn't see her anywhere. Cursing, he started down the street and saw a large Safeway at the end of the street.

Looking around, he didn't see any other shops, so he figured that she must have gone into the supermarket. He was about to dash down the street, but he realized that if Eponine came out of the store, he didn't want to make it look like he was coming to find her.

He was so confused over Eponine. She was a friend, that he already knew, but she was so different then the rest of the lighthearted, frivolous women that he didn't understand and didn't care to. He did not like women. There were some things about Eponine that he didn't like. Her lack of manners, for instance. In fact, he had seen her blowing her nose into her sleeve in the middle of class a few days prior. But, there were some things that he did like. He liked her spunk, her still happy demeanor despite all the problems she pretended that she didn't have.

He walked through the doors of the Safeway and was about to find her when he realized that his apartment was running low on groceries. He dug through his pocket; luckily he had his wallet. It appeared that he didn't forget money in his red jacket after all.

He grabbed a basket and walked over to the produce section. He was putting some oranges in his basket when he looked over and saw Eponine standing by the raspberries. She didn't seem to have noticed him. She had a basket in her hand, her dark hair was a tangled mess, and she was indeed wearing his red coat. He decided that some raspberries were a necessity, and so he went and stood next to her, admiring the little red fruit in its plastic carton.

Eponine was fighting a mental battle over raspberries. Imagine that! One side of her brain wanted raspberries, but the other side was reminding her that she only had 30 dollars, which after all, was Enjolras's, since it was in the pocket of his red coat.

Suddenly, she felt the presence of someone beside her and looked down to see another basket beside hers. She took the opportunity to peek in the basket; curiously, all it held was a few oranges. She looked up at the person admiring the red raspberries and had to hold in a gasp.

"I fancy raspberries, what about you?" asked Enjolras. She looked him over: his honey colored hair was immaculate as ever and he was wearing a red hoodie. "Where do you get all this red?" was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

The corner of his mouth twitched a bit and one of his golden eyebrows rose slightly, which she figured was the closest he'd get to a smile. "What brings you here?" he asked.

"Gee, I'm here because I need to mow the lawn." she replied sarcastically. She had a headache and lots of homework to do, and did not want to deal with strange and commanding Enjolras.

This remark made Enjolras's other eyebrow raise. "Indeed," he said. She rolled her eyes. "What are you buying?" he asked her. "Did your father send you to buy food?"

Oh god, thought Eponine. What am I going to tell him? That I'm living on my own, in a tiny shack, on the money I find in his jacket? She could feel the color draining from her cheeks as she stammered out: "Uh, yeah. He wanted me to get food."

Enjolras looked suspicious, and his eyebrows rose even further, if that was even possible. He looked as if he very much wanted to say something, but he didn't. Instead, he grabbed a carton of raspberries and put them in his basket, remarking: "You never answered my question."

Eponine, who was lost in her own world of thoughts, all regarding Enjolras, raspberries, and the color red, didn't hear a thing he said. "What?" He sighed, and said again: "You didn't answer my question."

"What question?" she asked.

"I fancy raspberries, what about you?" he asked dryly. She smiled and nodded. "Raspberries are my favorite fruit, but sadly, I don't, I mean my father didn't give me enough money to get them."

"I like raspberries too." he replied, deftly snagging two cartons of raspberries and placing them into his cart. She cast another wistful glance at the delicious red berries before continuing on in the store, trying to lose Enjolras. She needed to finish her grocery shopping so she could go back to her little garden shed. But, sadly, he followed her.

"I like spinach too. What about you?" came the annoying voice from behind her. She sighed. Really getting annoyed with you now, Enjolras, she thought. "Never had any spinach," she replied tightly, quickening her step just a bit.

But, to her dismay, she could still hear the footprints of the honey-haired high schooler behind her. She finally turned around and he stopped in front of her. "Listen, Enjolras, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to go. I'll see you at school on Monday."

For a short moment, she thought that she saw a flicker of disappointment in his intense blue eyes, but it was gone as soon as she saw it. "Sorry," she said.

"That's alright, Eponine. I have commitments of my own as well." he said tightly, and then began to walk off. "Hey, Enjolras," she said. He turned around. "You can call me 'Ponine." A ghost of a smile flickered at his lips and his eyebrows rose again. "See you at school on Monday, 'Ponine."

She smiled at the way the nickname crossed his lips, but then chided herself, thinking a bit regretfully that she was a poor street scum whilst he was a rich, handsome student.

He walked off, and she grabbed some cheap bread off the shelf and a lot of Ramen noodles, then walked over to the checkout. She had 20 dollars that she'd discovered in Enjolras's coat, and the total came to 19.64. It's good I didn't get raspberries, she thought.

She walked outside, carrying the paper bag. As she was weaving through the parking lot, someone bumped against her. "Oh, sorry," a slightly familiar voice said. "That's alright," she replied, and turned around to see the man that had accidentally bumped into her, but there was no one there. Shaking it off, she walked to her little shed and wrenched the door open. She walked over to the creaky table in the corner and dumped her shopping bag onto the table. Out spilled Ramen, cheap, crusty bread, and the few cents of change she had stuck into the paper bag. She began to put the bread away, then stopped and looked at her groceries again.

She thought back to the checkout; all she had gotten was bread and noodles. She remembered it clearly. But yet, on the table, was something she hadn't gotten. Her mind could only come to one conclusion, and she smiled faintly.

Because, very clearly on the table, next to the Ramen noodles and the cheap bread, sat a carton of raspberries.

**Again, lovelies, I have to give my utmost thanks for your support and understanding. For whoever has reviewed, favorited, or followed, THANKS! For those of you that have just read it and liked it, THANKS! Until next time, lovelies!**


	8. Chapter 8: Terrible Liars

**Hello, my lovelies! I have finally finished writing Chapter 8! (Drumroll please….) Anyway, without further adieu, here it is! Enjoy!**

Enjolras ran through his family's mansion. He laughed, hide and seek was so much fun! He only had a few seconds to find a hiding spot…but where should he go? Ah hah! He had found the perfect spot. The door was cracked open just enough to allow entry, and so Enjolras slipped inside.

His mother's office was lit with a warm glow coming from the light that always sat on her mahogany desk. The windows were dark, the stars were out. His mother was talking to a boy of about 17, or so it seemed.

Enjolras ducked into a corner, no one would ever find him here! He was so pleased with his spot that he didn't notice when his mother said: "Gregory." Her voice was full of ice and knives. Enjolras jumped and said meekly: "Yes, Mother?"

That was when Enjolras realized that his mother was not talking to him at all, she was talking to the older boy. Enjolras poked his head out to hear the conversation. The older boy had flaxen hair that fell in disheveled curls. He was wearing a red jacket and tall boots.

"Gregory, you are a disgrace. Get out." said Enjolras's mother coldly. "I have done nothing wrong, Mother." the older boy, Gregory, said. Enjolras, still in hiding, became very confused. He had no brothers, only sisters. So who was this boy?

"You have brought shame on our entire family. Get out and I never, NEVER, want to see you again."

Gregory made a small, anguished, sound, but then turned around and walked toward the door. His curls hid most of his face, but Enjolras could see the deep blue eyes on Gregory, full of swirling emotion. Gregory walked out, leaving the door wide open.

Suddenly, a small, dark haired girl ran in. She ran over to Enjolras. "I found you, Enjy!" she said. Enjolras was confused. He didn't know this girl either! She was short, dark haired, with hazel eyes and a big grin. She looked about his age. "Who are you?" he asked.

She just smiled. "Oh, Enjy," she laughed. "Of course you don't know me! But for the record, I'm Eponine."

Enjolras woke in a cold sweat. He glanced around. Moonlight poured through his window, bathing the room in a grey glow. He breathed heavily, wiping sweat off of his forehead. "Why did I have to dream of that?" he murmured. "I never want to think about it again."

He checked the time: 1:30 AM. He sighed and lay back down, closing his drowsy eyes. But all he could think of was the dream. In truth, that was how it had happened. He had been kicked out of the house for something his mother claimed brought shame on every Enjolras. He had done nothing! All he had done was what he knew was right. He tried to stage a rebellion against the rapidly rising stock market on Wall Street, but the people hadn't joined him and it had ended up with Coufeyrac in the hospital for a week and Enjolras getting shot in the shoulder.

But all that was a year past. Enjolras and Coufeyrac and the others all went to high school and were normal sophomores. Enjolras lived on his own in a tiny apartment from the money he received from his online job. And all was well.

Sure, Enjolras hadn't seen or spoken to his mother or his sisters in a year, but that was fine with him. He hated all of them. His mother most of all. She was all about "reputation this" and reputation that" and never seemed to care crap about her own son, who, for most of his 16 years with her, had lived on his own with no one to turn to.

All these heavy thoughts rushed through Enjolras's mind until he realized that sleep would not come. He went and sat on his windowsill, looking out at the quiet street. Tomorrow was his 17th birthday. He doubt his mother remembered. Or anyone else, for that matter. .Would Ponine remember? A sudden burst of hope flitted through Enjolras's mind before he realized that they had never talked about personal stuff like birthdays at all.

Enjolras shook his head and a tear traced down his cheek. For one of the most well-known people in school, most well-loved, he was so utterly alone. "I don't have anyone," he realized. "It's me against the world."

Suddenly, he heard a slight knock on his door. He immidiatly fell silent, listening. The knock came again, along with a quiet: "Enjolras?" His head whipped up, and he slowly padded out of his cozy bed to open the door.

Outside stood a small, sad-looking, Eponine. "What's wrong, Eponine?" he asked, trying to hide the small note of concern in his voice. "I… I'm lonely in my shed. I… I mean, the home situation is bad."

Enjolras smiled a wry smile at the girl. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a terrible liar?" She sighed and looked down. "Can I… stay the night?" He opened the door a bit wider. "Of course. And 'Ponine?" he asked.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"I think we need to talk."

Eponine sighed, brown eyes growing sad and pensive. She stepped through the door and sat heavily on Enjolras's red couch. He noticed with some satisfaction that she was still wearing his red jacket.

He went and sat down next to her, mentally laughing at the fact that it was 1:30 in the morning when Eponine had come knocking. He was wearing faded pajama shorts but no shirt. In the back of his mind, he realized that he should put one on, but he thought nothing of it. "So, what's the story?" he asked.

Eponine sighed. She looked over at him and realized, absurdly enough, that he had no shirt on. And he looked mighty fine without one. He was muscular and ripped and he should be in a magazine… No, Eponine! No! She mentally chided herself. "What's the story?" she heard him ask, and she fumbled for words.

"Well," she finally started. "You know how I told you the home situation was bad?" She looked over at him, trying to keep her eyes off of his gorgeousness and failing. She lost her train of thought. "I… uh… Wow, you're really muscular." She didn't mean to say that, and she could feel the heat of shame in her cheeks.

Enjolras looked at her coldly. "There are more important things at hand." Oh… okay, she thought. "Anyway," she continued, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. "The home situation got so bad that I decided to run away. I've been living om my own, in the tiny garden shed next to the school."

She saw a fire in his eyes and he stood on the couch. "You shall live with me, Eponine!" he said loudly. She just laughed. "Didn't somebody say that you were the leader of this group that helps people, or something?" she asked. "I can see you doing that."

He stared down at her, cerulean eyes full of swirling emotions that she couldn't read. Then, she realized what he had said and she blushed. Again, she was at a loss for words. "Thank you, Enjolra,." she said, smiling. Then, an absurd thought found it way into her mind and she began to laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" came the stiff voice from above her; Enjolras was still standing on the couch. She just laughed harder. "It's just so… funny!" she gasped. "It's 1:30 in the morning and I'm sitting in your living room talking about life in a shed while you're standing shirtless on the couch proclaiming that you always help the common man! It's just so bloody absurd!"

Enjolras looked at her for a moment. He was frowning, but then a tiny smile curved his lips upward. Before they knew it, both of them were rolling on the floor, laughing, and they were both at a loss for words again.

After a few moments, they quieted, but were still lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling. "So, Enjolras," Eponine began. "Yeah?" came the quiet reply.

"Are you alright?" she asked. "You just seem a bit… off."

She turned to face him and saw that the indigo eyes were full of anger, or so it looked like. "Yes, Eponine. I am fine." replied Enjolras. His eyes had grown hardand the stiffness had returned to his voice.

Eponine smiled a small half-smile. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a terrible liar?"

And that was the last thing either of them said before falling asleep. On the floor.

**Sorry this has been a few days in waiting, lovelies!** **We've been packing the house because did I tell you? We're moving! But yeah, I hope you enjoyed this chapter because I surely enjoyed writing it. And to make up for the wait, I wrote an Enjonine song for you! I will try to write a song with every chapter** **now. So here's Song 1! **

**Little Bit Faster**

**Discovered it one day,**

**Staring at the sky,**

**Always have,**

**Always will,**

**That's never going to change.**

**Discovered it one day,**

**Sitting in the rain,**

**Always have,**

**Always will,**

**Why does it feel so strange?**

**I love you, I love you, **

**God help me, I love you,**

**That's never going to change.**

**My heart beats a little bit faster, **

**Every time I see you.**

**My heart beats a little bit faster,**

**When I hear your voice,**

**My heart beats a little bit faster,**

**When you smile, smile at me,**

**My heart beats a little bit faster, a little bit faster.**

**Discovered it one day,**

**Don't know what I was doin'**

**Don't know what I was thinkin'**

**But I was thinkin' about you**

**Discovered it one day**

**Really got me sinkin'**

**Really got me sinkin'**

**In the waterfall of your eyes.**

**I love you, I love you,**

**God help me, I love you,**

**That's never going to change.**

**My heart beats a little bit faster,**

**Every time I see you.**

**My heart beats a little bit faster,**

**When I hear your voice,**

**My heart beats a little bit faster,**

**When you smile, smile at me,**

**My heart beats a little bit faster, a little bit faster**

**My heart beats a little bit faster,**

**Every time I see you.**

**My heart beats a little bit faster,**

**When I hear your voice,**

**My heart beats a little bit faster,**

**When you smile, smile at me,**

**My heart beats a little bit faster, a little bit faster**

**My heart beats a little bit faster, a little bit… faster.**


	9. Chapter 9: Red Skinny Jeans

**HEYHEYHEY! :D I'm having a GREAT time and I think I'm on a suger rush… :) but lets get on to the chapter, shall we?**

The first thing Eponine saw when she woke up was somebody's butt. "What the heck?" she muttered. She slowly stood up and realized that she had been lying on the floor along with… Enjolras?

Dayummm… she realized. You have a nice butt…

She checked the time, 9:30 AM. It was December 16, and it was Christmas Break. Suddenly, a phone on the table buzzed. Enjolras's, she supposed. She picked it up. It said:

**New Text: From: R**

**To: Enjolras**

**Hey Gregory! U comin to my party tonight?**

Eponine smiled for a moment. Gregory… she mused. Then, she began to type.

**New Text: From: Enjolras**

**To: R**

**This is actually Eponine here. Is this Grantaire? Anyway, Enjolras's still asleep.**

She took the phone and went into the kitchen. He probably had lots of food… All she had in her shed was Ramen noodles for the past month and she had been rationing herself to a quarter of a cup every meal. She needed to save it. But now she was living with Enjolras, who OHMYGODRASPBERRIES! Eponine had opened the fridge, and to her great delight, saw two boxes of the red berries sitting on a shelf. The box of raspberries that Enjolras had bought her had been eaten in the first hour. But now there were more. Eponine grabbed a box off the shelf along with some eggs, sausage, and butter. She heated up the skillet and cracked some eggs. Once they were cooking, she began stuffing raspberries in her mouth.

That was when Enjolras walked in. Her mouth was completely full of raspberries and she had his phone in one hand. He stared at her for a moment. She saw the stern look on his face, but then he did something she did not expect: he burst out laughing. She took the opportunity to swallow all the berries and gently set his phone down on the table. "Hungry much?" he asked.

"Yeah, there wasn't too much food in the shed. I've been rationing it to one fourth of a cup of ramen noodles every meal. His eyes grew wide. "You will have as much to eat as you need, 'Ponine," he declared, one arm stretched sky-high. "You're going into proclaiming mode again. You really don't have a group for like, revolutions or something?"

His eyes grew misty. "I did, once. But that was a time past. Who's texting you?" he asked. She looked over; his phone buzzed. She grinned unabashedly. "It's Grantaire, I think. And he's texting you, Gregory." He just looked at her coldly. "Oops?"

"WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT NAME?" he shouted. "Um, Grantaire? He's probably drunk, you know," she supplied.

"Gregory is of a time past just as my revolutions group was." he said quietly.

"Uh, okay. Grantaire wants to know if you're going to come to his Christmas party tonight." Eponine said.

"Tell him that of course I am," he said. Eponine grew confused. "Why don't you just tell him yourself?" He sighed. "I don't really want to deal with drunken Grantaire this morning." Eponine shrugged and picked up his phone again.

**New Text: From: Enjolras **

**To: R**

**Enjy's awake now and he says that of course he'll come.**

Once that was sent, Eponine made some toast. "Want some?" she asked, holding out the buttered toast to him. He took it with a mumbled thanks and bit into it while she served the eggs. Enjolras's phone buzzed and Eponine picked it up.

**New Text: From: R**

**To: Enjolras**

**SAWEET! You should come too, Ponine, we all love you.**

Eponine blushed despite herself. "What are you looking at?" came Enjolras's muffled question through a mouthful of sausage.

"Grantaire was just saying that he wants me at the party because you all love me!" She grinned widely and he laughed. "You seriously didn't know that we love you? You're like our sister! I mean, all of us adore you. Marius does, Jehan does, Grantaire does, Couferyac does, we all do!"

Eponine blushed deep red. "Seriously? I thought that I was a loner!" Now it was Enjolras's turn to laugh. "You are everything but, I promise. But on more serious terms, do you have any more clothes then that ratty t-shirt and my jacket?"

"Not really." She shrugged, showing her bony shoulders. "Then we have a task ahead of us."

An hour later, Eponine was stuffed, a good and unfamiliar feeling, and clean, as Enjolras had let her take a shower and wash out her tangled locks. Now, she and Enjolras were walking down the street to go buy clothes, with a light snow falling around them. Eponine was about to walk into the nearest clothing store, but Enjolras pulled her back and directed her toward another, obviously expensive, store. She gasped. "You're taking me… here?"

She saw the hint of a grin on Enjolras's stoic face and without another word, continued toward the door. And inside, she gasped at the beautiful women's clothing. She immediately picked up a pair of bright red skinny jeans and judged the size. Soon, she was in the dressing rooms, with a large pile of clothes to try on.

"Ponine," came Enjolras's voice from outside. "Yeah?" she replied. "Come out and show me." Eponine nodded, then laughed at herself, realizing that Enjolras couldn't see it. She pulled on the red jeans, a black-and-white striped tee, and slid a pair of knee-high black leather boots over the jeans. Lastly, she slipped into Enjolras's dear red jacket and opened the door so he could see her. He stood for a moment, and gave a curt nod, almost of dismissal. Hurt, she retreated back into the dressing room to try on the rest of the clothes, not showing him any more.

As Enjolras paid for the clothes, the kind cashier took the tags off and told Eponine that she could put on some of the new clothes, instead of her ratty t-shirt. So again Eponine went to the dressing rooms, putting on the red jeans and the striped shirt with the boots, as it was her favorite. As she buttoned the jacket up a bit, she heard a familiar voice talking to Enjolras outside. Joly, she realized after she tried to place whose voice it was.

Ready, she opened the door and stepped outside, and tried to keep the heat from rising to her cheeks as Joly gaped. "Ponine," he managed to get out. "You're so different, you're… beautiful!" She smiled at him and looked at Enjolras, who again, gave that stiff nod she was beginning to loathe.

"Ready?" she asked. "Of course, Eponine," he replied, and she walked ahead of them to the door, as Enjolras was talking to Joly. She could tell that the hypochondriac was trying to whisper, but was doing a very bad job. She caught snippets of the conversation.

"What was that, Enjolras?" she heard Joly say.

"I looked her over and it met with approval. I was showing that."

"Good god, man, you could have at least told her she looked nice."

"I showed her that I liked what she was wearing, Joly."

She heard Joly sigh loudly. "You have no idea how to treat woman, and yet so many of them are pining after you."

"I have no intent to. I wish to die a bachelor. And who are these women that are wanting after me?"

She listened intently. She knew that many girls had a crush on Enjolras, but she was still curious all the same. After all, she was a Thenardier, and Thenardiers were born to eavesdrop… sadly.

"Well," she heard Joly say. "Your friend Eponine is a clear example. I've seen the way she looks at you." This made Eponine stop in her tracks, and was rewarded by some cursing as Enjolras walked into her. "Why'dcha stop, Ponine?" he asked. She looked up and saw a red light at the crosswalk. "Red light," she said stiffly. "Really monsieur, you aught to have been paying attention." Then, the light turned green and she walked on, not waiting for a response.

She was infuriated. To have Enjolras ignore her and then to have Joly say she liked him? Gods be good…

**Heyyyyyyyyy misa lovelies! Whatsa happening? :) anyway, sorry for the wait I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO busy! Haha also if any of you like Avengers (GPRox I know you do, I read NYC,) I have an AVENGERS STORY! WHEW! YEAH! It's called Life with Earth's Mightiest Heroes and I would appriciate it if you would read it. No one's reviewed so far… :( But have a nice day lovelies! Byeeee!**


	10. Chapter 10: Ignite the Flames

**Hello my lovelies! And how are you today? Well, I must tell you that I originally thought this story was something else. But then I changed the title and now I'm going to change the description, because I had an epiphany in this chapter same as Eps. Anyway, enjoy! **

**P.S: I know where I'm going with this now… :)**

Enjolras walked into Grantaire's house, with Eponine right beside him. They had each brought a present, for Grantaire had claimed there to be a "gift swap" at the Christmas party. The house was warmly lit, a stark contrast to the white snow outside.

They walked into the living room, where sat Jehan, Grantaire, Coufeyrac, Combeferre, Joly, Bossuet, Bahorel, and Marius. "PONINE!" came the collective shout, except from Grantaire, who muttured: "Enjolras," seeming already completely inebriated. He slowly rose from the couch, bottle in hand. "Now that we're all here," he drawled. "PARTY TIME!" shouted Coufeyrac. "Let's play Truth or Dare!" suggested Bossuet.

Eponine smiled as she and Enjolras sat down on the floor in a big circle with everyone else. "I'll go first," said Grantaire. "Joly, truth or dare?" The hypochondriac thought for a moment before replying: "Dare."

The resident drunkard thought for a moment, before saying: "Call that girl you like and ask her out. Right now." Eponine had to stifle a laugh as Joly visibly paled. "Musichetta?" he asked weakly. Grantaire made no response except to hand him a phone. "EVERYBODY SHUT UP" shouted Coufeyrac, and once everyone was silent, he pressed the speaker phone button on Joly's phone. "No sound at all," whispered Enjolras to the group as Joly died a number.

The ringing sound filled the room. Somebody picked up. "Hello?" came a pleasant voice. Joly turned white as a sheet. "Musi?" he asked. "It's Joly."

"Hi, Joly," came the voice on the other end. "I have something to ask you." He stuttered the words. Musichetta laughed on the other end. "Will you…" he stopped.

"Will I what?

"Go out with me?" Joly stammered. There was a long pause before they heard a "Yes," and Musichetta hung up. There was a second of silence before group rose up in cheer. Joly turned bright red with a grin on his face. "Alrighty then, Marius. Truth or dare?"

"Uh… dare, I guess." replied Marius uncertainly. "Alright," said Joly, rubbing his hands together like an evil genius. He held up a small whiteboard, an eraser, and an Expo marker. "I dare you…" he said, adding a dramatic pause. "To not talk or make any noise at all for 2 hours."

Marius fell silent and took the whiteboard. "And…" Joly added. "If you laugh, speak, sigh, make any noise at all, you will have to start over." The group groaned but Marius wrote: _I'm up to the challenge_ on the whiteboard.

The group fell silent to see who Marius would choose. _Enjolras,_ he wrote. _T or D?_

Naturally, Enjolras chose dare, and Marius dared him to make one of his revolutionary speeches, like old times. "I am not doing it!" Enjolras sighed. Coufeyrac jumped up and began waving his arms and making chicken noises. One of the groupmates, Bahorel, she thought, began to chant: "Speech, speech, speech, speech, speech," and everyone else joined in until Enjolras stood on the table. He had procured a newspaper from god knows where, and pointed to an article on the first page.

"Government is cutting welfare. Now those who live on welfare… can't live anymore." Enjolras started. "This is an outrage! For those too poor to get a good job, who depend on a welfare check to survive… They will lose their homes! They will lose their belongings! They will starve!"

A month ago, this would have been her problem because her father and mother got welfare. But now that she was living with Enjolras, it didn't matter to her about her mother and father! She had already smuggled Azelma and Gavroche out to better homes. Now she was gone too. But still, Enjolras had a very good point.

Eponine looked around at the group. Joly, Marius, Courfeyrac, Combeferre and all the rest all sat enraptured. Even Grantaire looked inspired. This must have been the revolutions group, Eponine realized. He had talked about a failed revolt, and the group had shut down, or so it seemed. Enjolras was the leader, with his speeches. Combeferre was probably the force that glued them all together. Joly was the doctor, Marius a loyal member, and even Grantaire putting down the alcohal for a few moments to listen to something he believed in, perhaps the only thing he believed in.

Suddenly, Eponine was entranced. She wanted to be a part of this group. A group that helps people! A group for fixing people. Eponine wanted to help, she wanted to fix people. But the group was disbanded, the bridges burned. But all the members still stayed loyal to their leader, who was standing on the table. She could bring them back together… but how?

Suddenly, something Marius had once said to her came to light in her mind. He had said: "To fix others, you first have to fix yourself." Then, it came to her! She could do it! She could! Because she lived with the man that needed the fixing! Enjolras wanted to help people, and yet he hadn't yet helped himself. He had helped her, and then, she had glued herself back together. She would do the same for him.

"We need to help these people." Enjolras was still talking. Everything was silent in the room except for his voice. "No we MUST help these people! So who's with me? WHO'S WITH ME?" he boomed and the room erupted in cheers. Suddenly, someone started chanting: "Les Amis, Les Amis, Les Amis," and to her own shock, Eponine found herself joining them. The room was one collective voice of "LES AMIS" and suddenly, Eponine could see a future, with these rowdy souls, these wonderful people. And damn it, she'd be a part of it wherever it went. And this is why she shouted: "LES AMIS, LES AMIS, LES AMIS, LES AMIS, LES AMIS, LES AMIS, LES AMIS!" until her voice was hoarse.

She looked up at the golden haired leader of a group for revolts, a group for inspiration. And in that moment, she saw a spark ignite in the waterfall eyes of Enjolras. A spark she'd never seen, that before her eyes turned into a burning blue fire, a passion, a hope, a dream of a better tomorrow. This was an Enjolras she'd never seen, but an Enjolras she wanted to see again.

The room slowly fell silent and she thought she saw a flicker of a smile ghost across Enjolras's lips. But when she looked up again, he was about to jump down , but the fire was gone. And all Eponine wanted, in that moment and for the rest of the night, was to bring that fire back. All that was left was to figure out how.

The rest of the party was almost boring after that.

**So did you like the mind-blowing epiphany that our dear Eponine has? I sure liked writing it! I'm also planning a new story with everybody's favorite pint-sized revolutionary: Pocketjolras! I'm not finished writing Chapter 1 yet, but I might be later, so check my profile later today. It's called The Amazing Adventures of Pocketjolras and the Les Amis.**

**Also, for the people that get me 33 reviews, favorite me for 11 favorites, follow me for 33 followers, and read More Broken for 3211 views, THANKS! None of this would be possible at all without you, so I love you all! :D**

**Have a lovely day!**

**-crescentmoonthemage**


	11. Chapter 11: The Republic

**Hello, my lovelies! I am very sorry that I did not update sooner, but I was very busy and this chapter took some thought. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! **

The morning after the party, Enjolras woke up extremely hung over and feeling terrible. He groaned and put a hand to his head. In the living room, there was a cheerful note that said:

**Went Christmas shopping. (I'll pick up some aspirin too, we're all out.) See you later!**

**-Eps**

Enjolras groaned in misery, "No aspirin? I'll just have to go back to bed." And so that was exactly what he did. And in his hung over state, he didn't even question where Eponine had gotten the money to buy Christmas presents.

The girl in question was actually in Goodwill at the moment, along with Courfeyrac, Combeferre, and Grantaire. She had named them her: "Bring Enjolras back to life" comrades.

They were browsing the used books section, trying to find some books that Enjolras had donated after the Wall Street failure. He had even given away his prized copy of "The Republic" by Plato.

"If we're going to bring Enjy's fire back, we need those books. They inspired him," said Combeferre, looking through a pile of books.

Eponine looked at the list of books they had made.

**The Republic** was underlined in deep red at the top of the list. But there were others as well, including:

**Why Democracy Works**

**The End of Monarchy**

**Let the Bells of Freedom Ring**

**A List of All French and English Monarchs From 1720-1860**

"Geez, he's a bit of a dry reader."

That remark made Grantaire laugh. "Dry is understating it a bit."

Eponine grinned and took the list to the counter, meaning to ask the employee where she could find copies of them. He was a young man with sandy hair and chocolate eyes. "Excuse me?" she asked. He turned toward her. 'Yes?"

"Do you know where I can find copies of these books?" She held out the list to him. He scanned over it. "Oh yeah, those things. Some crazy guy in a red jacket brought all those in last year. They're still sitting on a shelf in our back room because we didn't know if anyone would want them. I'll go get them."

Eponine's face brightened. "Oh, thank you!" She ran back to the others to tell them the news and they all went up to the counter. The employee came back a second later with a cardboard box labeled: **Revolution Books** in Sharpie on the side. He set the box on the counter and Eponine looked in it. All the books were there, and she reverently pulled out a very well-loved book, bound in fading red leather. "This the book of wonders?" she asked.

Combeferre nodded, almost reverently. "That was the book he got all his ideals from." The employee looked at her. "If these books are so important to you all, you can have them for free. Nobody else is going to want them."

Eponine thanked the man profusely and walked with Grantaire out to the car, leaving the other two students to get the box. Once they were in the car and driving, it was off to Target to get some wrapping paper. They were browsing through the Christmas section when Courfeyrac came running around the corner, holding what appeared to be a small potted pine tree. "It was in the plants section. It's a little mini Christmas tree!"

She smiled and told them that the tree was a must. Then, they picked out some red and black wrapping paper and aspirin and headed to the checkout. The cashier told them to have a "Very Merry Christmas."

On the way home, Combeferre, the driver, told her that there was one more place they needed to stop. The car pulled up outside a dingy-looking café. Faded letters over the door read: Café Musain. "What's this place?" she asked. "This was where it all happened. They gave us the whole upstairs for our meetings. This was the place where we helped the poor, where we planned everything out." said Courfeyrac.

"They told us that whenever we wanted the top floor again, it would be ours."

They got out of the car and walked inside. A kindly lady behind the counter looked up and her eyes widened. "You're back!" she said, running up and giving the three boys hugs. "Where's everybody else, where's Enjolras?" she asked.

"We're not back yet," replied Combeferre. "Enjolras has blocked this out of his life. We're determined to bring it back in. Right now, we need to buy a bag of Musain Coffee."

The lady bustled behind the counter and produced a large bag of yummy-smelling coffee. "It's yours free," she said. "You've been our loyal patrons forever and you've paid us enough. If you would come back here, well, that's worth more then a bag of coffee."

They smiled, and nodded their thanks. "This is actually a Christmas gift for the very leader himself."

The lady smiled. "Well, you know that the upstairs is always yours." They nodded their thanks and left. "Shall we drop you off, 'Ponine?" Grantaire asked. "Can I actually come over to your house and wrap presents, because my room in Enjolras's place is the couch."

They nodded agreement and drove to Grantaire's house to wrap presents. They all helped out and within half an hour, there were six neatly wrapped presents in front of them, all dressed in red, except for **The Republic, **which was wrapped in black paper, so Eponine knew which one to save for last.

They drove her home, and Eponine came inside to find all the lights off, the curtains closed, and Enjolras snoring face-down on the couch. She tried to stifle a snort, and instead put the bottle of aspirin on the table next to his head along with a glass of water. She laughed as she remembered the night before. She had never seen Enjolras so drunk, she wondered the occasion. He had been parading around singing something about hearing the people sing at one point, and eventually had collapsed on the floor and fallen asleep. Eponine put the little tiny tree on the middle of the kitchen table and arranged the presents under it. Her fingers tapped a nervous beat as she stared at the black paper covering **The Republic**. Hopefully he wouldn't hate her…

A few days later, it was Christmas morning, and fear twisted in Eponine's gut. _Oh dear god, please let this be alright_, she silently prayed as she walked into the kitchen. She noticed with a little twinge of pleasure that there was one small present not wrapped in red and black, and Enjolras was already sitting at the table.

She sat down next to him. "Merry Christmas, Eps," he said, grinning. She smiled. "Merry Christmas. Listen, uh, your presents are really special and they need to be opened last, so can I do mine first?"

He smiled. "Go right ahead."

She opened the first one. It was two tickets to see Les Miserables on Broadway in New York City, along with two plane tickets. She gasped. "Oh my god, thank you!" she cried and gave him a hug. "It's what I've always wanted!"

"Can I open mine now?" he asked. "Yep," Eponine replied, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. "Just save the black one for last."

_Dear god, help me, please. I want to still have a friend tomorrow, please._

He pulled the lumpy one, the coffee, towards him, and opened it. "Ooh, coffee!"

He turned it over. "Musain Coffee. Did Grantaire tell you to get this?"

She nodded, fear creeping up in her mind. "I love it." said Enjolras, and she breathed a sigh of relief, but then she realized that The Republic was not opened yet. He slid another one towards her and opened it, only to have his eyes widen in shock. "This… this is mine. Where did you get it?" He said it with a mixture of surprise and anger. "It was Combeferre's idea." she replied, trying to keep her voice from rising a decibel. He opened the other books, and more anger was written more clearly on his face. Now all that was left was The Republic. Eponine didn't realize it, but she was shaking in fear. He slowly pulled the black-wrapped book over to him and slowly slit the paper, as if not wanting to know what was inside.

His eyes widened in clear shock and when he spoke, his voice was pure anger. "Where did you find this?" he asked. His voice was an icy knife. "Goodwill." She squeaked. He stood up and hurled The Republic at the wall. Then, he turned toward her, pure fury in his eyes. "Never, NEVER try to bring that back. It's done! It's gone! NEVER DO I WANT TO SEE THIS BOOK AGAIN, AND NEVER DO I WANT TO SEE YOU!" he shouted, before storming out the door. Eponine waited a moment, before grabbing The Republic and ripping Enjolras's red jacket from her shoulders and throwing it on the ground. Then, she grabbed his beloved book and ran out of the apartment. Only when she was four streets over did she allow tears to fall.

**Sorry for the drama, everybody, but as you can see, Enjolras is quite stubborn… Anyway, enjoy and review!**

**Byee!**


	12. Chapter 12: Why?

**Hello, my lovelies! As a reward for the positive feedback from the last chapter, here is another chapter! This marks a new point in the story and I sure hope you enjoy it! **

The first thing that Enjolras noticed when he walked in the door of his apartment later in the afternoon was his red jacket, lying in a crumpled heap on the floor of the kitchen. His eyebrows raised. "Eponine?" he asked, confused. There was only silence. He picked up his red coat and put it on. He noticed the beautiful smell coming from it, a mix of lavender, vanilla, and something else that was distinctly Eponine.

"Eponine?" he asked again, walking into the kitchen. The books Eponine had given him for Christmas were still scattered on the table, as well as the Les Miserables tickets, but The Republic was not in the corner where he had thrown it. He was beginning to get worried now. "Eponine? 'Ponine, are you here? Eps?"

He ran through the apartment, only to find nothing. All her clothes were still in the closet. _She must have run an errand…_

Suddenly, something he had said came back to his mind. Earlier, he had shouted: "NEVER DO I WANT TO SEE THIS BOOK AGAIN, AND NEVER DO I WANT TO SEE YOU!"

_Oh dear god, what have I done?_

The very girl in question was slowly walking down the streets of Paris, away from Enjolras's apartment, his beloved copy of The Republic cradled in her arms like a child. She didn't know where she was going, only that she needed to get away. He never wanted to see her again.

_Oh the irony. When I gave Marius my heart, he broke it and Enjolras put it back together. When I gave him my heart, he broke it only because I tried to fix him like he had fixed me. No, he didn't break it. He stabbed it with a knife and watched it shatter into a thousand pieces that can never be put back together, just from one sentence. 16 words, one sentence was all it took for me to be on my own yet again._

She walked down the street, shivering. Her black leather boots were covered with powdery snow and she had no coat. Luckily, she did have the sense to put on a sweatshirt and hat that morning, but she missed the familiar warmth of the red jacket.

She ended up by the Bastille, staring at the July Tower. A tear slipped down her cheek as she remembered the day she'd run away from the party. When Marius had ignored her and Enjolras had been her gallant savior, all she could think of was: One day he'll leave you behind just as your beloved Marius has done." She had put the thought out of her mind, because after all, he was Enjolras. He would never do such a thing. But he just had, and that little voice in Eponine's head was whispering that she should have listened, should have paid attention.

Suddenly, she heard a voice cry out: "Ponine!" She whirled around to see the small figure of Azelma, a freshman at a different school, standing with her foster parents. She ran up and gave her sister a hug. "How are you, 'Zelma?" she asked fondly. "Oh, I'm great!" she replied enthusiastically. "These foster people you set me up with are really amazing!" She ran back and gave her foster parents a hug. They smiled.

_How nice… Everybody looks happy. Well lah-di-da for them._

Eponine was so lost in her thoughts that she missed Azelma's question. "Huh?" she asked. "And how are you doing, 'Ponine?" she repeated. Eponine sighed. "Today was the worst Christmas of my life. No, I didn't get forgotten. It was much worse." Eponine began to unravel her tale, starting from the day she had first talked to Enjolras in September to Christmas Day. Azelma's eyes filled with pity. "You could come… come and live with us for a little bit. Couldn't she?" Azelma was almost pleading to her foster parents and they smiled. "Well, we were thinking about having another foster child. You'd have to go to a different school."

Eponine readily agreed. Anything was better then Enjolras and Musain High. "Well, we can go home whenever you're ready. Do you have any clothes?"

Eponine sighed again. "I do, but they're at Enjolras's house, and I'm not going back there for the life of me."

"What did he say to you?" asked Azelma. "He said…" Eponine trailed off. "He said that he never wanted to see that book again, and that he never wanted to see me. So I left."

"Well, I think that boy is going to regret what he did because it sounds like he really cares about you." said Azelma's foster-mom.

Eponine snorted. "Please. Enjolras caring is an oxymoron."

They all got in a car and drove through the streets of Paris, winding in and about until they stopped in front of a large house. "I have a lot of clothes." chattered Azelma as they walked inside. "You can have some of mine. I wonder how we're going to register you for school. You can have a different room."

Eponine wasn't listening to her sister at all, her mind was wandering back to other things. She stared down at the well-worn book in her arms and opened it. Inside the cover, in small, neat writing, read: **Gregory R. Enjolras.**

She smiled a small, sad, smile as she closed the book. They walked inside the huge house. She heard Azelma's foster parents saying something about "Follow me to your room," so Eponine trailed behind the woman, up some stairs and down a hall, to a large room. "I'm Mrs. Balaster,m" she said kindly. "We love your sister and we're glad you're staying with us for a bit. We'll get you registered in the new school. You went to Musain High, right?"

Eponine nodded and Mrs. Balaster handed her a notebook and pen. "If anybody needs a diary, it's you." Then, she closed the door and left Eponine alone to her thoughts. She stared around the room. It was large, the bed looked cozy, and there was a window seat. Eponine went and sat down in the window seat, getting out the notebook. She opened it to the first page and wrote:

_December 25_

_Dear Diary,_

_There are so many things that need saying, questions that need answering. Where do I start?_

_I met Enjolras last year. Granted, I didn't talk to him much, I was just there for Marius, after all. In September, (I don't remember the date) Marius broke my heart with that pretty blonde Cossette, and Enjolras found me. He offered a place at his home for one night, and we became friends, sort of._

_After that night, we started hanging out at school more, and one day when I ignored him, he went to find me and met my father. That didn't end well… Then he found me in the grocery store and bought me some raspberries. Then, I got lonely and came back to his house. He agreed to let me live with him._

_When we went to Grantaire's party, I saw a side of him that I had never seen, a wonderful, completely Enjolras side that he tries so hard to hide. I decided I would fix him like he had fixed me. I went and bought his revolutionary books back from Goodwill and gave them to him for Christmas. That was when he got made and told me he never wanted to see me again. So here I am._

_If I wrote a letter to him, the greeting, customarily, would be Dear Enjolras, or Dearest Enjolras, or maybe even Dear Gregory. But he's not dear to me at all anymore. People have said that he has feelings, that he cares. So why doesn't he care about me?_

_My mind is so confused, so full of jumbles and tangles of thoughts I would rather just forget about forever. Why doesn't he care? Why doesn't anybody care?_

_This brings me back to that night when my Marius met Cossette. I asked myself why no one cared then either. But Enjolras was there. I thought he cared. Now that he doesn't care, I have no one. And that's the hardest thing, I think, for me._

_So Enjolras, if you ever read this, I guess my question to you would be… why?_

"Oh dear god, what have I done? We have to find her!" The marble man was freaking out. He buried his fingers in his blonde locks. "Calm down, calm down," said Combeferre. "She'll come back."

At that comment, there came a loud burst of drunken laughter from Grantaire. "You think she'll come back after that? Enjy, you screwed up, bad. You just told her that you never want to see her again! Why would she want to come back after that?"

Enjolras brushed off Grantaire's slightly disturbing comment to listen to some positive feedback from Courfeyrac. But none of them except the drunkard himself knew that Grantaire was the only one right.

**I know this chapter may seem a bit odd, but hang on, we're getting there. Also, if anybody wants a suggestion for a great Eppy-Enjy fic for an afternoon of reading, I suggest Our Little Lives by Concetta. That girl really does have a gift…**

**Anyway, bear with me, my lovely readers! I don't plan to end this any time soon, so don't worry! Bye for now, and I'll see you later!**


	13. Chapter 13: All You Are is Marble

**Hello again, lovelies! I wanted to crank a couple more chapters out for you because I'm going to be gone this weekend. Also, I have a community called Our Own Barricade and if anybody wants to have a story in it, or be staff or something, just PM me. (It's Barricade Boys stories.) Also, it's my birthday on Thursday. Woohoo! **

**Also, the italics are Eponine's diary and the rest is Enjolras and Courfeyrac. Think of it like those movie scenes where you can hear a voice speaking but you can see other things going on.**

_December 30_

_Dear Diary,_

_I am alone, still. He doesn't care. Why would he? All I have for company in this big, lonely, room is you, diary, and his copy of The Republic…_

Enjolras ran down the street, wearing the red jacket. He was alone, but all of his friends, Couf, R, Ferre, Jehan, Bossuet, Bahorel, and all the rest were searching on different streets. Courfeyrac had gone to Eponine's brother, Gavroche, who lived with a foster family on the other side of the city. Enjolras again stared at the piece of paper in his hand. Eponine's handwriting was clear. He crumpled it in his fist and kept looking down every alley, asking every shopkeeper if they had seen Eponine anywhere.

_I read some of The Republic today. Out loud. It calms me down, no matter how dry the text. It talks about the Fairest of States a lot. I do miss them, a bit. I miss Grantaire's hilarity, Courfeyrac's flirting, Combeferre's smarts, Marius's laughter. I miss every one of them except Enjolras. Why doesn't he understand? All I was trying to do was help him…_

Enjolras barreled around a street corner, nearly running into Courfeyrac. "What's the news, 'Rac?" he asked, breathless. "Gavroche says he knows where she is, but she made him and Azelma…" He paused, looking nervous. "…Swear to not tell us. He said that she was pretty angry at you, Enjolras. What exactly happened?" But Courfeyrac knew the story, Eponine had told him when he had seen her earlier. Luckily, Enjolras didn't seem to catch her lie.

"Well, apparently, you thought it was alright for Eponine to buy back my revolutionary books and give them to me for Christmas! When I unwrapped The Republic, I lost it. I shouted at her and told her that I never wanted to see her or that bloody book again, and then I stormed out. When I came back, she was gone. And I don't care what she thought, it was wrong to do that to me!"

Courfeyrac had been staring at him the entire time. "Dude, this sounds like your mission. I don't think she's mad at any of us." In fact, Courfeyrac knew her only cause for fury was Enjolras.

_Courfeyrac came and found me today, saying that Gavroche had told him where I was. He swore to secrecy and I told him the whole story. He said Enjolras was looking for me, but he also said that Enjolras believed that what I did was wrong, and he's angry at me for it. Well, screw him. Screw that red jacket, and screw his golden curls, and screw his eyes and screw his feelings and screw everything about him. He doesn't care._

"But I care about her, Couf! You have to help me!" said Enjolras. The side of him that wasn't Enjolras-like at all was taking over, and the crack in his marble heart grew ever bigger.

He opened his hand and uncrumpled the piece of paper. "You heard the letter! Enjolras, I'm saying goodbye!" He began to read from the crumpled paper in his hand, but Courfeyrac took the paper from him. "It doesn't matter, Enj. You did the damage, you have to fix it! Maybe we can find her, but you have to apologize! She's not gonna belive it from any of us!"

_I wrote a letter to him yesterday. Azelma slipped it under his apartment door for me. It read:_

_Enjolras,_

_I'm saying goodbye. You have done all the damage necessary, and now I'm gone. I hope to never see you again, because if I never saw your face again, heard your voice, I'd be all the better for it._

_I know the customary greeting at the beginnings of letters is Dear So-And-So. But you're not dear to me anymore. I don't even know if I would count you my friend. Don't you understand? I was just trying to help! When you made that speech at the party, I saw a blazing, fire-fueled, passionate side of you that I had never seen before. You aren't passionate about anything anymore. You have no fire. When I saw that side of you, all I wanted to do was bring that fire back. But you didn't let me, Enjolras. You didn't let me bring back the fire. You told me you never wanted to see me again. Some gratitude that was._

_I wish that you would understand. But you won't, because all you are is a marble statue with no feelings. You don't care. Do you? No, don't answer the question, I already know that I am nothing to you._

_I gave you my heart, after Marius broke it. I gave you my heart, and you fixed it. You made it new, gave me purpose. But just when I began to trust you, to give you purpose, you stabbed it with a knife and watched as it shattered like glass. But you did nothing. You won't do anything. Will you?_

_This is why I left, Enjolras. You need to figure things out. You need to find out if you really are marble, if you really do care. And who knows? Maybe I'll come back before senior year. Maybe I won't. Don't try to find me. You won't be able to._

_Eponine_

_Azelma went and knocked on his door. She put the letter in the hall and went to hide so she could listen to their conversation. It seems most of his friends are on my side. But he, stubborn little prick that he is, is still on his own side. He still believes that what he did was right, versus what I did. In his mind, what I did brought back "painful memories." DOESN'T HE UNDERSTAND? Oh wait, he doesn't. He doesn't have feelings. Well lah-di-dah for him and his feelings. I'll just block him out of my life._

_It's ironic, diary, that I thought that Marius breaking my heart was the worst damage anyone could do. But no, this is much worse. I hate him. I hater him completely and fully, and with no regret._

_Well, I'd better go, diary. Azelma wanted to walk around with me later. Hopefully he's not still wandering the streets._

"That letter she sent me last night, she said that I was the cause of all the problems. It wasn't me! It was her! Courfeyrac, surely you of all people understand!"

"Sorry, Enj, but I think I'm on Eponine's side for this one."

Enjolras sighed. "What am I going to do?"

"Give it time, just like the letter said. You need to figure yourself out before you figure her out. Just wait a couple of months. Maybe Gavroche will help you then. But for now, leave it be. It's all you can do."

Enjolras looked down so his comrade wouldn't see the sadness flicker in his waterfall eyes. "Yeah, maybe you're right."

And without another word, he walked, dejected and feeling alone, back to his apartment, passing two dark-haired teenage girls in hoodies and not thinking anything of it.

**I have to go now, lovelies, but I hope you enjoyed! Also, big thanks to BroadwayActingChic15, my biggest fan ever. Bya lovelies!**


	14. Chapter 14: Back to Stay, Or Not

**Hello, dearest lovelies! I am sorry that I have not updated in a few days, but as I said, I was gone this weekend. However, I did have a good birthday, so that is good. Anyway, without further wait… CHAPTER 14! WOOHOO!**

_January 7_

_Dear Diary,_

_Today I started anew. It was the first day at Corinth High, the school Azelma's foster parents have graciously set me up in._

Eponine chewed the end of her pen, trying to put her thoughts into words. "How to describe it?" she asked herself.

_I told everyone that I had just moved into the city. There were a few nice people. I met a boy named Bossuet, apparently he knew Enjolras and was shocked to find out that I was the girl Enjolras had kicked out._

Bossuet had seemed nice, enough. Eponine had made him swear to secrecy, and he had readily agreed, saying that he was to see the marble man himself that night, and promised to fill Eponine in on the details.

_I also met Musichetta, Joly's girlfriend-of-sorts. Apparently, Joly is sharing her with Bossuet. Not sure how that can happen…_

Eponine smiled. _How can two men date one woman at one time? _she wrote. _But anyway, the school seems good enough. Sure, I miss Courfeyrac, and Joly, and Grantaire, and Marius, and maybe even Enjolras a little bit. But if he doesn't want me back, then I will disappear. _

_I actually thought I saw him today, with Combeferre and Courfeyrac, but when I turned around, they were gone. It must have just been some student lookalikes._

…..

Enjolras walked into school at Musain High on January 7th. It was the first day of second semester. He hadn't seen Eponine since Christmas, and everyone had been very quiet about the whole thing. It seemed that he was on his own side, and even his friends had abandoned him to side with the girl he had kicked out.

The first thing he did when he walked in the doors was go to Eponine's locker. She wasn't there, but, after all, it was only 8:45. He still had 15 minutes before school started. And so he waited. When he checked his clock again and found that it was 8:59, he began to worry. There was still no sign of the dark haired girl. So, with only a minute left, he ran to the secretary's office. "Shouldn't you be getting to class?" asked the matronly secretary.

"It's my friend, Eponine Thenardier. She's not here, and I'm worried about her." The secretary typed a few commands into the computer, than frowned. "It appears that your friend Eponine has been enrolled in a different high school, just across town."

"What's the name of the school?" Enjolras practically shouted. He was so close to finding her… but did he want to? _I could just let her go. She was just a girl. She didn't even mean anything to me. She was just another dark-haired, broken girl. But yet… I fixed her._

Enjolras pulled Eponine's crumpled farewell letter out of his pocket, if only for reassurance that it was still there. He had memorized the words already. _I can't let her go, can I?_

He was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he missed the next words of the plump secretary. "What?" he asked. She sighed. "Corinth High is the name of the school. Now get to class. I'll write you a late pass."

Enjolras took the late pass and strode quickly out of the room. It was all he could do to not break into a full run. He pulled out his phone and sent out a group text to Courfeyrac, Grantaire, Joly, Jehan, Bahorel, Combeferre, and even Marius, asking them to get out of class and meet him at the Café Musain, where all his revolutionary meetings had been held. They were all in separate classes, his high school being a large school, so it wouldn't be a problem.

Walking out of the building and towards the Café, his mind wandered down the inevitable path back to Eponine. _Why can't I let her go? She was nothing to me. Just a girl I saved from the street with a few kindnesses, and that was that. _

_But you did count her a friend… _a small voice inside his head reminded him.

Enjolras walked into the café. The portly server looked very pleased to see him, and immediately got his favorite coffee for him, an almond latte. She ushered him upstairs, babbling on and on about: "the Les Amis are back, our café has life again, there is right in the world." Once she had gotten him upstairs to the customary meeting spot, she promptly exited down the stairs, leaving him to wait for his companions alone.

He looked around at the dusty upstairs room, the one with the wide front window and tables all around. This was the very room that held all of life's memories, for Enjolras. It was full of pride, full of pain. It was in this room that he had stood upon tables, giving speeches to rally the people, to call them to arms, to bring them in line. It was here that he had organized the Wall Street Rebellion, as he called it, as well as countless others. He had held every meeting of his group, the Les Amis de l'Abaisse, in this room.

Enjolras couldn't keep himself from noticing every little detail in the dusty room, bringing back floods of memories. The large "R" carved into the corner table, a faded red banner of his hanging on the wall, a tricolor pin lying on the floor. It seemed that the room hadn't been used since the Les Amis had vacated it the year before, and he intended it to stay that way. This was only an emergency meeting, the Les Amis were not back to stay.

He sighed and drummed his fingers on the table, very impatiently. He took a sip of his latte, the Musain always made good ones, and continued staring out the window as he waited for his compatriots to join him.

In a few moments, they arrived, flushed and breathless, outside the café. It appeared as if they had run all the way from the school. He moved to the window, calling: "Up here!" All of his loyal group mates looked up and saw him at the window, saw the Enjolras that once was, alive again. Courfeyrac had an idiotic grin on his face. Combeferre, Enjolras's second-in-command, was faintly smiling, yet you could see the sparkle in his eyes. Grantaire was so shocked that he had dropped his wine bottle, letting it shatter on the sidewalk and red wine pool around his shoes. Jehan already had a pencil and paper out, apparently sketching the situation or writing a poem to commemorate it. Joly called up something about getting sick from all the dust, and Bahorel looked downright joyful.

Enjolras tried to hold in an exasperated sigh. It was just an emergency meeting. There would be no more, the Les Amis were not back. Yet, his friends seemed to think so. In a moment, they were all upstairs, grinning like Cheshire cats and he could hear mixed cries of: "We're back!" "Life again!" and strangely enough: "Let's all get drunk to celebrate!"

He climbed onto a table and saw his comrades looking up at him, their faces aglow. "First off," he said. "We're not back together." He saw some of his friends' faces fall, but he noticed Courfeyrac whisper something to Combeferre, and they both grinned excitedly. "This is an emergency meeting, just because we need to find Eponine. I now know that she is newly enrolled in Corinth High. We need to find her and bring her back. I know I pushed her out, but I have now decided to find her, apologize for what I have done, and set all out lives straight again! We will go to Corinth High today, all searching the halls, and BRING HER BACK! SO WHO'S WITH ME? WHO'S WITH ME?"

The room erupted in cheers. "If today is unsuccessful, we meet here tomorrow after school! SO LET'S GO FIND OUR EPONINE!"

The cheers rose even louder, and again, like at the party, Enjolras discerned one thing in the chant: "LES AMIS, LES AMIS, LES AMIS!" And so the Les Amis rushed out onto the street, running towards the nearby Corinth High, Enjolras at their head.

And every one of the Les Amis but Enjolras himself knew that no matter what Enjolras said, their beloved group for revolutions, their ragtag bunch of misfits, their wonderful Les Amis de l'Abaisse, was back to stay.

They rushed through the doors of Corinth High and found that it was passing period, so no one would look strange at a group of students rushing down the halls. Enjolras directed them to specific hallways and began the search himself, with Combeferre and Courfeyrac by his side.

A little ways down the hall, Enjolras spied someone that looked suspiciously like Eponine, walking with Bossuet and Musichetta. He sent Courfeyrac to investigate, knowing that Eponine would be angry at him, and his comrade came back saying that it was defiantly NOT Eponine, her hair was too short, the color of her eyes wrong. And she was laughing and smiling, an activity which Eponine usually did not engage in.

Enjolras did notice, however, that Courfeyrac came back from his investigating completely white faced and stumbling over his words. But Enjolras thought nothing of it at the time.

They searched the halls all day, but no trace of Eponine was found. At the end of the day, Enjolras even had people manning all the exits while he went and asked the counselor where she was, but they all came back empty handed. And as students poured out of Corinth High, Enjolras stood alone in the hallway, still half-heartedly looking around. _What have I done?_

The crack in his marble heart grew ever bigger.

**This chapter gave me some trouble to write, because it is hard to write Enjolras with feelings, if you know what I mean. And there is some foreshadowing here, if you guess it, leave a comment saying what it is, but I won't tell you. I'll tell you in the next chapter!**

**Also, for those of you who asked, yes, Enjolras did walk by Azelma and Eponine last chapter.**

**Question of the chapter: Which Barricade Boy would YOU date? Leave an answer in the comments!**

**Bye for now!**


	15. Chapter 15: What Comes of Mistakes

**Hello again, dear lovelies! I was full of inspiration last night and cranked out this chapter in an hour and a half. I'm sorry, in advance, for the sadness. But, that is Les Miz for you. I promise, once we get to Chapter 20, it will be better.**

**In apology for the sadness, I have added an E/R moment in the end. After all, who doesn't like bromance? Anyway, enjoy!**

**Oh, and also, the results for the poll were as follows:**

**Barricade Boys We Would Date**

**Grantaire**

**Courfeyrac**

**Enjolras/Joly (Tie)**

_January 10_

_Dear Diary, _

_Today, the school announced tryouts for the spring show, Broken Like Glass. Musichetta told me that I should try out, because apparently the main character is just like me. Well, I am a big theatre lover, so I guess it wouldn't hurt…_

_Tryouts are on January 20__th__. We have to sign up by the 13__th__, so I guess I'll go do that tomorrow. _

_The strangest things keep happening to me! I keep thinking that I see Enjolras in the hallway! Or one of the others. Sometimes it's Courfeyrac. Sometimes R. Sometimes Joly. I even thought I saw Marius once, but mostly it's Enjolras. I keep thinking that I see a blond, curly haired guy in a red jacket, but when I look again, he's gone! Oddly enough, it's always when I'm walking to lunch…_

'_Chetta told me that I should go and see if it was really him, but I don't have the heart to. I don't have any heart anymore. He stole it, fixed it, and then broke it again. I don't even know where all the pieces are anymore… I just don't trust him! I thought he liked me! He let me in! Then, he shut me out again…_

_Well, there's not much more to say, so I'll stop writing now, I guess._

Eponine put down her pen and closed her diary, setting it down on her nightstand. She sighed and stared out the window. The stars shone brightly in the sky, and she could see the faint silhouette of the Eiffel Tower in the background. _I need a breeze on my face, I need vertigo, I need a respite from these overwhelming thoughts._

Her mind made up, Eponine rushed out of her large room, grabbing Azelma. "Where are we going, 'Ponine?" asked her sister, confused. "Eiffel Tower. I need to clear my head."

Eponine shouted that they were going out for a while and shut the door behind them. She started at a brisk walk down the street, not waiting for her younger sister. Azelma had to run to keep up, and soon they were walking down the street, side by side, hoods up.

Eponine was about to turn onto the Rue Montemarte, it being the more direct route to the Tower, but Azelma grabbed her arm and turned her onto another street. "This is a shortcut." Eponine nodded, her mind lost in thought. They continued down the quiet side street. The only sound was that of a loud voice coming from in front of them. Eponine strained her ears and discerned a few snippets: "We need to find her!" and "R, it's your turn to go to Corinth next," and "Put the bottle down!" Eponine was confused for a spilt second. The voice sounded familiar, yet more commanding and full of life. But she couldn't place it.

It wasn't until she rounded the next corner and saw the lights of the Café Musain, and, clearly visible in the upper window, was Enjolras. She stopped in shock. Azelma didn't notice for a second, so she continued walking. But when she noticed that her older sister had stopped walking, she stopped also. "Eponine?" she asked, voice full of concern.

"Zelma, it's… it's…" Eponine couldn't speak, she was stumbling over her words. "Eponine?" asked Azelma again. Suddenly, she heard a voice from the window, Marius's: "Hey, Enj! I found her! She's down there!" All color drained from Eponine's face, and she tried to run, but found that she was so terrified that she couldn't move.

She heard a loud crashing noise and suddenly, all the Amis were at the window, staring straight at her. Then, she heard the sound of running feet and they all vanished from the window. That was when Eponine found her feet. She ran, as terrified as a rabbit in the face of a lion. She heard their voices, heard criesd of: "Ponine! Don't go!" But she didn't listen. She sprinted up and down side streets, not knowing or caring where she was going.

To her surprise, she found herself again in the park where she had fled to after Marius had broken her heart, the park where Enjolras had found her. And only one thought was in her mind.

_Dear God, I'm afraid of him._

She sank, dejected and broken, onto the grass below an oak tree. Tears began to crowd her eyes, blurring her vision, and then flooding her cheeks. And the fact that she couldn't stop them made her cry even harder.

With shaking fingers, she drew Enjolras's **The Republic** out of her jacket pocket and turned to a random page.

"You know that the beginning is the most important part of any work, especially in the case of a young and tender thing; for that is the time at which the character is being formed and the desired impression is more readily taken... Shall we just carelessly allow children to hear any casual tales which may be devised by casual persons, and to receive into their minds ideas for the most part the very opposite of those which we should wish them to have when they are grown up?"

"We cannot..."

"Anything received into the mind at that age is likely to become indelible and unalterable; and therefore it is most important that the tales which the young first hear should be models of virtuous thoughts..."

And so she sat, tears running down her face, sitting under an oak tree, reading **The Republic **until the rosy light of dawn touched her.

….

Enjolras ran through the street, after the fleeing dark haired girl. One glance and she had run. _God, I really hurt her, didn't I? _He tried to pursue her, but she vanished a few streets in, leaving him standing alone and empty on a Parisian street.

He trudged back to the Musain, ignoring his friends' concerned glances. He grabbed his stuff from the café, and without a word, walked away from his friends and toward his flat.

Enjolras was sitting at the kitchen table, with his hands buried in his hair, when the knock came. His heart leapt, but fell again just as fast when he heard the voice of Grantaire.

"Go away, R." he muttered. He heard Grantaire's laughter, only slightly muffled by the door. "You forgot, Enj, you gave me a key. I'm just knocking out of politeness." Enjolras sighed and ran his hands through his hair. _I do hate Grantaire sometimes…_

"What do you want, R?" asked Enjolras impatiently, turning around in his seat to face the drunkard. "You screwed up bad, Enjolras." said R. "But," he continued. "That doesn't mean that I won't help you fix it." The wine cask sat down on Enjolras's damask couch, patting the seat next to him. Enjolras sighed, and got up from the table to sit down next to his friend.

Grantaire affectionately threw an arm around Enjy and drew his friend close in a tight embrace. They stayed like that for a moment, and Enjolras closed his eyes, in an effort to fight tears. But it didn't work.

And so there they stayed, late in the night, the drunkard holding the marble man as tears ran down his cheeks, tears of sorrow, of anger, of apology, of mistakes. That night, Enjolras's cracked, marble heart did something no one expected it to do.

It shattered.

**Question of the chapter:**

**If you could go back in time to the time of the Les Amis (1830s,) what would you do there and why? (I will post my favorite answers at the A/N for next chapter.)**


	16. Chapter 16: Small Steps

**Hello, dear lovelies! I am sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrySORRY that I haven't updated in so long! But I was busy, and then my cousins came, and we were packing, and… yeah. And I am also sorry to say that this will probably be my last update before August because we are moving outta state at the end of July and I am SOOOOOO busy. And also, I forgot to say this before, but 64 REVIEWS! You are all so wonderful and I love you all! **

Eponine had a copy of the cast list in her bag, though she was too scared to look at it. Results from the auditions had come out that day, and she had grabbed a list of parts without looking. It seemed heavy in her bag as she walked down the halls of Corinth High, like lead, almost.

Azelma was a few steps in front of her, chatting with some of her new friends. Eponine would have been doing the same, except that Musichetta was sick that day and Bossuet, oddly enough, was nowhere to be found.

Little did she know that a dark shadow waited in the corner, malicious smile on his face and evil glint in his eye. Eponine walked toward the door, groaning as she saw the freshly fallen snow outside and realizing that she had not worn her trusty combat boots outside that day.

Just as she was about to walk through the door, a hand grabbed her at the waist and spun her around. Before she could even register who had grabbed her, the person leaned in and kissed her, mouth pressing hard against hers.

When she realized who it was, she kneed him in the crotch, and wrenched out of his grip, smiling with utmost satisfaction at the groan she heard.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend, 'Ponine?" asked Montparnasse.

"Yes, it is, Montparnasse, because you aren't my friend." Eponine spat. The oily teenager stared at her with hate and lust in his eyes, an odd mix. "And who said that?" he asked, leaning in for a kiss and grabbing her bum. She didn't hesitate to sock him in the jaw and watched as he stepped back, growling. "You will pay for that, Eponine, I promise."

She crossed her arms. "Oh, we'll see about that, won't we now?" He growled again, but she could see unhidden desire in his eyes and tried not to throw up. "Why are you here, 'Parnasse?" she hissed. "To give my dear 'Ponine a warning. Your father wants you. And he will find you, mark my words."

She just shook her head in contempt and stalked off, without another word.

…..

Enjolras grabbed his French book and walked out of 8th period toward his locker. Almost automatically, he glanced toward the spot where Eponine's locker was, and, as always, found the spot vacated. He sighed, and again, felt the tiny hole in his heart where Eponine used to be.

He didn't want to date her, of course, he never preoccupied himself with the complexities of women, but, in the short span he had known her, he had considered her a friend. He had finally figured out that she had just been trying to help on Christmas, and every time he went home, he saw the collection of his books on the table, right next to the Les Miserables Broadway tickets, which he kept as a sort of… promise to himself, and to her.

He walked out the doors to Musain High and saw his friends all streaming toward the Café, in preparation for their nightly meeting. He would never admit it to anyone, but he was a bit glad that the world was beginning to seem normal. Granted, it didn't seem quite right, since they weren't planning a revolution, and since Eponine wasn't there, but it was better.

_She told me that she was trying to help me, to fix me. Is this what she meant? Did she want to bring back who I was before?_

He pushed those thoughts out of his mind and walked down the street towards the Musain. He heard someone clear their throat and he turned around to see Grantaire and Courfeyrac standing behind him, smirks on their faces. "So, Enjy," started Courfeyrac. "Whatcha thinking about?" asked Grantaire with a smirk. "You thinking about 'Ponine?" asked Courfeyrac.

Enjolras sighed. "Two points. First, my name is NOT Enjy, and second, no, I'm not thinking about Eponine."

Grantaire laughed. "Then why are you holding the farewell letter Eponine gave you?"

Enjolras looked down, he was indeed clutching Eponine's letter in his hand. The paper was crumpled, the ink faded, but Enjolras knew exactly what it said. He had memorized it already. "This is just some schoolwork." he said at last. Courfeyrac just laughed. "You're a terrible liar, you know that."

_February 10_

_Dear Diary, _Eponine wrote.

_I miss him, it's true. I'm afraid of him, and still mad, but I miss him. I miss all of them, even Marius. But I miss him most. It feels like he was one of the one true friends I found, and then we both had to go and screw it up. Maybe trying to bring back the past wasn't a good idea… _

_Anyway, I still miss him. He was my friend, and I was beginning to trust him. But then I had to be stupid and try to fix him. His Republic is sitting on my bed right now. I read it every day. I bring it everywhere. It reminds me of him._

_That makes me think about that night when I ran away from him. He was in the Musain, with everybody else! Why? Grantaire told me that that café was where all the meetings were, before something happened. But he said that Enjolras hadn't been back there…_

_So perhaps I am fixing him after all…_

_No, I have to put these thoughts out of my mind, it didn't work. It didn't work. Did it? _

_On another note, I got the lead role in the play! Woohoo! I didn't think I could do it, but maybe 'Chetta was right. She is like me…_

_I just wish-_

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Eponine put down her diary on the table. She opened her bedroom door and was about to get it when she heard her sister run to get the door. "Hello, Grantaire," she heard. "Yes, she's here. Yeah. EPONINE?" she shouted. Eponine walked down the stairs to see Grantaire standing in her living room. "What are you doing here?" she asked incredulously. He grinned and threw her a flask. "Heard you were lonely. Plus I figured I should tell you. Enjy's feeling pretty bad about everything."

Her mouth dropped. "Seriously?" Grantaire just laughed. "From the look on your face, missing a meeting at the Musain was worth it."

Her mouth dropped wider. "Wait, there are meetings at the Musain now? They started again?"

Grantaire just nodded. "Wanna see? You can come along. I'm sure Enj would like it." Eponine thought for a moment, before taking a drink from the flask, grimacing at the acid taste of vodka, and then nodded.

Eponine and Grantaire walked down the street. Even from streets away, the dark haired girl could hear the raucous laughter and voices echoing from the Musain. She picked out a voice and her heart twisted. They walked around the corner and Eponine saw, clearly outlined in the lighted upstairs window of the café, a man in a red coat, with golden curls. Her heart sped up and her feet wanted to turn back, but she willed herself to keep going. Grantaire seemed to notice her internal struggle and smirked. She glared at him.

They walked inside the Café Musain and slowly went up the steps. Eponine walked behind Grantaire into the loud upper room, newsboy cap pulled over her head. Nobody seemed to notice her, for which she was very thankful.

She sat down at a front table, next to where Enjolras was making his speech on a tabletop. He looked down and saw her. His eyes widened and he stuttered on his words. Then, he cleared his throat and made an effort to look away. While he wasn't looking, she slipped away out of the meeting and went to sit on the sidewalk outside before he could talk to her. It wasn't a very big step.

But it was a step.

**See, getting better, isn't it? Anyway, I also have a new LOTR story called Daughter of Hope and I would love it if you would check it out! It's on my profile! Anyway, bye for now lovelies! Love you all!**


	17. Chapter 17: Racing Hearts

**Hello again! I found a moment and made this chapter! I figured I owed you all something happy, so here is a non-depressing chapter! Anyway, enjoy! **

**By the way, Enjolras says hello and Grantaire asks if you have any wine.**

**Also, I forgot to display my favorite 3 answers to the survey: "If you could go back to Paris in 1832, what would you do and why?"**

**Here they are:**

**Um... Good question. Get drunk and annoy the hell out of Enjolras, duh? I think partying with the Amis would be the best thing ever. Also run riot around Paris and living life to the full because that's what its for, right? **

**-Italia L'amo**

**If I could go back to the 1830's in the Les Mis universe, I'd probably build another barricade and confuse the crap out of Les Amis because they didn't know there was going to be another barricade!**

**-FurthurIllumination**

**I would get either Combeferre or Courfeyrac to help me adopt Gavroche and be a GOOD father figure to him.**

**-geeky-goth-girl-13**

**Anyway, on to the chapter!**

"Good, Eponine, good! You're progressing!" said her drama teacher. The production was in a week and Eponine was just polishing up her act. She smiled and nodded, but her mind was on other things. She had been to every Café Musain meeting since February 10th, but she still hadn't spoken to Enjolras. Most of the time, she just sat, listening, and then left. She was still too scared to talk to him, but even tiny steps were steps.

She was so focused on her thoughts that she missed the next thing her drama teacher said. "What?" she asked. Her teacher, Mr. Ernest, sighed. "We can't have an unfocused Emma, Eponine!" She looked down. "Sorry. But what did you say?"

"Run through The Miserable Ones another time for me."

Eponine sighed as she started the song.

_May 13_

_Dear Diary,_

_The show starts tomorrow and I'm in the lead role! I can't believe it! I've always wanted to be in theatre…_

_I'm so glad that school is almost over. It ends on May 31, and the play runs until the week before. I hate this school. I want to go back to Musain High. I think I'll start Junior Year there. Maybe I can be friends with Enjolras again… _

_Well, only a short entry tonight because I've got to get some rest for the show. Good night!_

Eponine closed her diary and lay down on her bed. She stared at the ceiling and the glow in the dark stars she had stuck there. She hugged her beloved brown newsboy cap to her chest and tried not to cry as she thought of someone who would not be at her show.

She missed the days when her father was kind, when he would hug and play with her instead of beat and slap her. She missed when her father actually cared about his children, when he was loving and gentle. But those days had been long gone, and they wouldn't come back. So there was no use dwelling on them now.

_I hope somebody I love comes to my show… _was the last thought that crossed her mind before she slipped into sleep.

….

Enjolras walked out of the Musain after a meeting. They didn't really plan anything big in their meetings, but they had protested to replace Principal Javert with Principal Fauchlaveunt, and other small things. The Les Amis de l'Abaisse weren't what they were before, but they were getting there. And all of that was thanks to one dark-haired girl.

Speaking of dark haired girl… Enjolras wondered why Eponine hadn't come to that night's meeting. She had come to all the others. Granted, he hadn't spoken to her yet. He was a bit afraid to. But, she hadn't come to that one, and he, in the back of his mind, wondered why.

All the Les Amis noticed that Enjolras had grown happier since his return to the Musain. He didn't yell as much, wasn't as stoic. The dark circles under his eyes had all but disappeared, and Combeferre had actually seen him smile once or twice. And all of them silently thanked Eponine for bringing their friend, their leader, their light in dark times, back to them.

Suddenly, Enjolras heard the pattering of feet and turned around to see Courfeyrac and Grantaire running wildly towards him, clutching a piece of paper and grinning like idiots.

"Enjy!" shouted Courfeyrac. He groaned. "I told you not to call me that!" They both just grinned. "We have something to show you," said Grantaire, a mischievious grin on his face.

"Better cancel tomorrow's meeting, because if you don't, no one will be there," added Couf. Enjolras looked back and forth between them. "What are you two talking about?" he asked, confused.

They just grinned and handed him the piece of paper. In the light from the Musain, he read it. It appeared to be a poster, listing a play at Corinth High. He was confused for a moment, and then read: **Starring: Eponine Jondrette.** He almost chocked on his own breath.

"Eponine's starring in a play?" he asked. "Yep." replied Grantaire, smirk on his face. "And we are going to go see it. All of us. And you." Enjolras groaned, but inside, his heart was racing. It could have been nerves, or maybe just the prospect of making amends with the girl he had begun to call his friend and ally.

"Come on," said Couf, steering him towards his apartment. "We have to look through your closet and find you a nice shirt to wear."

….

"Eponine! You look great!" squealed Musichetta after she saw her friend. "Your costume is divine! You're perfect for Emma!" Eponine grinned. "Yours looks good too, 'Chetta."

Suddenly, the drama teacher ran backstage. "Doors are opening! Everybody be quiet, because people are coming in. Curtains open in fifteen minutes!"

Eponine danced on her toes, trying to still her racing heart. Opening night! And she was the lead! For a moment, she could just forget everything else and revel in the joy of being in a show. It was her dream, after all. She wanted to be Eponine in Les Miserables someday on Broadway. She laughed to herself. "Musi?" she asked. "Yeah?" said 'Chetta.

"Isn't it ironic that we all follow the lives of the Les Miserables characters? We're even named after them!" said Eponine.

Musichetta thought for a moment, and then burst out laughing. "I guess you're right! I hadn't even considered it before!" Eponine smiled. "Neither have I!"

"Five minutes until curtains!" whispered the director, running backstage. "Places! Eponine, get on stage! On the bench!"

Eponine's heart began to thump, almost painfully in her chest. She slowly walked across stage, in the darkness, to sit on her prop bench in the middle of the stage. She could hear voices from the audience. Suddenly, she thought she heard a familiar voice. _No. It can't be him._

The director ran across stage again. "Curtains open in 20 seconds. Get ready!" he whispered, and then sprinted off the stage. She looked down, breathing hard.

She ran through the checklist in her mind. _Microphone? Check. Microphone on? Check. Lines? Check. Costume? Check. _

Then, the curtains began to open. She scanned the crowd for a moment, before her first line. And her heart, which had been racing so fast, stopped.

Because in the front row were all the Amis. And looking straight at her, a smile on his lips, was Enjolras.

…..

The curtains opened, and there she was. Looking straight at him. He smiled faintly. There she was, Eponine. She saw him and her eyes widened, just for a split second, but then they went back to normal, and she said her first line.

The rest of the play was a blur, yet Enjolras remembered every second of it. He knew the plot, the characters, even the words to some of the songs. And just as soon as it began, there she was again, taking her bow, and he and the rest of the Amis were on their feet, clapping, shouting: "Ponine! Yeah, 'Ponine!" And she was staring at them, at him, and smiling.

Enjolras didn't care about the rest of the bows, and until the curtain closed, all he was thinking about was: _I hope I can talk to her. I hope I can talk to her. I hope I can talk to her. _

Then, the lights came up, and all the cast came on stage. A voice announced: "Picture time and a cast meet-and-greet!" He looked up, on stage, and there she was, looking happy, and strangely beautiful in her costume and stage makeup. He pulled out the bouquet of flowers he had hidden under his seat and made his way towards her. He stopped in front of her, and for a moment, all he could see was her. He handed her the flowers, and she smiled, looking down. "Hey, 'Ponine," he said quietly. She was silent for a moment, and he got nervous. But then she ran towards him and embraced him, wrapping her arms around his neck and staying there. All he could hear was her voice in his ear: "Hey, Enjy."

**See? I told you it would be happier! Anyway, question of the chapter: If you could change anything about Les Miz, what would you change and why?**


	18. Chapter 18: Merry Band of Misfits

**Hello, dearest lovelies! I have constructed this whenever I had time to write, and so here it is. Also, as a not-really-request-but-a-wish-from- Miri the Wildmage, there is some Courf/Jehan in this chapter. Anyways, read and review!**

**Top Three Results from the Poll**

"**One Thing You Would Change From Les Miserables"**

**I would have Marius die and Eponine and Enjolras and Gavroche survive. I would also have Javert stop referring to himself in 3rd person.**

**-IvyGreen13**

**You mean apart from 90% of the cast dying by the end of the play? I would make Courf/Jehan more official.**

**-Miri the Wildmage**

**I would change Marius and turn him into some hardcore, punkrock rebel to make him falling in love with Cosette even more cheesy.**

**-GPRox**

"Eponine, please? Just one more drink!" pleaded Grantaire. Eponine had a wicked grin on her face as she held the last bottle of Grantaire's favorite scotch just out of reach and dangled the key to the liquor cabinet from her other hand. She put her feet on Enjolras's coffee table and reclined against the vermillion couch. Behind her, Enjolras was lost in thought on some document or other he was trying to complete for the meeting the next afternoon.

Jehan and Courfeyrac sat on a couch to Eponine's left. They were sitting so close, their legs were touching, and they kept exchanging small glances. Only Combeferre, in a chair next to Enjolras, seemed to notice the pair's new understanding. He smiled a small, secret, smile at knowing what they had between them, and bent his head to continue working on his notes.

Joly was cleaning Enjolras's kitchen, and the group caught snippets of his muttering, about the 'completely unsanitary conditions that Enjolras lives and works in. Bahorel, Bossuet, and Feuilly were playing cards on the carpet and from the way the two latter kept groaning, Feuilly was winning. Marius wasn't there, then again, was he ever? For some strange reason, that didn't bother Eponine as much as it did in September. He was probably off with Cossette, taking her on some elaborate date pr something. Even odder, that fact didn't bother Eponine either. Yet she was still sure that she loved him, even surer then ever.

None of them were quite sure how they had all ended up in Enjolras's and Eponine's shared apartment except the owners of the place themselves. Enjolras, well, he lived there, and Eponine, she had moved back in after the end of the school year. In truth, she had missed Enjolras, missed him sorely, and all the others as well. Everyone else had just sort of… showed up that day. Eponine figured they were there to celebrate the end of the school year and the beginning of summer, but she hadn't given it much thought. They were there, and that was that.

_How I've grown to love this band of misfits… _she thought. _For once, I actually feel accepted. _She laughed as Grantaire tried to reach for the bottle once more, and fell short as Eponine handed it off it to Feuilly, who gave it to Bahorel, who passed it to Bossuet, and so on and so on, until somehow the bottle reached Joly in the kitchen without anyone ever getting up from their seats.

Eponine looked down at the table and noticed the Les Miserables Broadway tickets that Enjolras had gotten her for Christmas were still sitting there. For the first time, she noticed the date, June 12. _That's my birthday! _she realized with delight. And it happened to be that weekend.

"Enjolras," she asked, trying to sound calm. "Mhmm?" he replied, not looking up from his computer screen. "Are we still going to that Broadway show?"

He nodded. "I was thinking so, and I hope you don't mind, but-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Grantaire cut in. "We got tickets too!" he exclaimed. "We're all going!" He jumped onto the top of the table and brandished a stack of what did indeed appear to be Broadway tickets to prove his point.

"-everyone else is coming with us," Enjolras finished dryly. There was utter and complete silence for a moment, before the entirety of the Les Amis de l'Abaisse burst out laughing, including the marble man.

Before long, they were rolling on the floor, trying to contain their laughter, and failing. Eponine was plagued by fits of giggles, and Grantaire was guffawing whole-heartedly, along with everybody else.

They were still laughing at 7:30 that night, when they boarded their overnight flight to New York. Eponine had a seat between Enjolras and Grantaire, and a fully charged phone with earbuds.

The flight took off and Eponine stuck her earbuds in her ears. She turned on a song and began to get lost in the world of music.

About two hours into the flight, Eponine looked around to see what everyone was doing. Grantaire had fallen asleep, snoring so loud it would wake the dead. Jehan, behind her, was drawing something. She snuck a peek at it and was surprised to see that it was a beautiful, detailed, drawing of Courfeyrac. The subject of the artist appeared to have no idea he was being drawn, as he was engrossed in a book. Bahorel and Bossuet were playing cards, along with Combeferre. Joly, she wasn't even sure. It looked like he was staring out the window, but you never knew with him.

Lastly, she snuck a glance at the man sitting next to her. Enjolras was on his laptop, typing away at a document. She peeked at it and saw that it read: **Ideas for Projects. **Most of the things listed made absolutely no sense to her. There was **Cafeteria Non-Fro Stuff, Les Noir for the Good of People, **and even one that said: **P of P W! **

"You know," she said. "You could just go with that welfare thing from Christmas."

He turned toward her, disapproval evident in his cerulean eyes. "I do not appriciate my ideas being read over my shoulders." She shrugged, not knowing what to say. "However, I have thought about the welfare idea. It just has flaws."

She sighed. "No more flaws then whatever the heck Cafeteria Non-Fro Stuff is does."

"Hey!" he said. "The school cafeteria needs fresh food!"

She smiled softly. "Maybe it does."

She pretended to be looking away, but she smiled when she saw him type: **Welfare **on his page in bold print.

….

Enjolras looked up from his document when he felt a weight on his shoulder. He looked down. Eponine had fallen asleep against him, her small frame leaning almost entirely on his. His red jacket, no, her red jacket, was wrapped around her shoulders, as it often was. Her breathing was even, and she seemed serene.

Enjolras shook his head, marble man that he was, and continued with his work. But he kept glancing down at the sleeping girl beside him. Because no matter how much he tried to convince himself that he was still marble, still without feelings, she had broken him and let all those hidden feelings out.

He didn't love her, no. He still thought love was a silly and frivolous endeavor, and one he had no wish to try out. But Eponine was different. She wasn't like the masses of girls in Musain High who would flirt with him every chance they got. She had actively gone out of her way to not see him, for a while.

But now she was back, and she had flipped his world upside down once again. He couldn't deny that she was beautiful. But she wasn't just beautiful on the surface. She was a very caring and loving person on the inside, and if she loved you, she would do anything in the world to make you happy.

He also couldn't deny that she deserved someone better then Marius. Far better. Marius had never treated her kindly, always made her his servant, and most of all was blind to everything she felt. Eponine could have gone and dangled a flag saying: "Marius Pontmercy, I Love You. Love, Eponine" out of a plane and he still wouldn't have noticed.

But that wasn't going to be him. He had not, could not, would not fall in love with Eponine Thenardier. He didn't believe in love almost like he didn't believe in religion. He supported the others that were going through it, but he didn't take any part in it himself.

And the simple fact that he didn't love Eponine Thenardier wasn't going to change.

Or so he thought.

**Also, 78 Reviews! I can't say how much I love you all and am so thankful to have such a devoted group of Mizzies rallying behind me! So, thank you, dearest Lovelies, and I hope I will find time to update soon!**

**Question of the Chapter:**

**Favorite slash pairing of Les Amis?**


	19. Chapter 19: Two Nights In A Row

**Okay, so I've been CONSUMED by ExR feels lately, so I wrote a poem (will post at bottom) Anyway, either ExE or ExR is my OTP. But on to the chapter!**

**Also, my move went smoothly, and I'm in my new house now! (Woohoo!) **

**And we've broken 90 reviews! (Double Woohoo!)**

Eponine woke up, her eyes bleary. She went to move and found she couldn't; Enjolras was sleeping on her shoulder. He was a bit of a dead weight at that moment, so she found it nearly impossible to move around.

She turned around and saw Grantaire was smirking and looking at his phone. "What's put you in such a fine mood?" she asked. He just giggled in a higher pitched tone then she would have expected possible from Grantaire.

"I just have to post this to Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, then we'll talk."

Suddenly, Eponine realized what he was doing. In an instant, she had snatched his phone and held it just out of his reach, while scrolling through the pictures. When she saw the latest one, she said: "You little bastard,"

He just grinned and shrugged his shoulders adorably. She deleted the photo of her and Enjolras sleeping on each other and handed the phone back to him, smirking. "What?" he said. "Why did you delete that perfectness?"

"What are you two idiots being so loud about?" asked Enjolras blearily. "Grantaire took a picture of us sleeping on each other, and I was deleting it."

"I don't care," mumbled Enjolras, and closed his eyes again. Grantaire smirked. Eponine rolled her eyes and turned on her music. A few minutes later, the loudspeaker came on: "Prepare for landing in New York City."

Eponine turned to Enjolras. It appeared he had fallen asleep again. She poked him. "Apollo," she said.

He half-opened one eye. "What?"

"Flight's landing." was her reply.

He sighed and removed his head from her shoulder. His lovely golden curls were disheveled and messy, and he had a hint of a mustache on his upper lip. It was in that moment that Eponine realized how handsome he was. All those things made him have a bit of a wild look, a not Enjolras look. And she rather liked it.

However, she was still in love with Marius Pontmercy. Even though he was with Cossette (it had been so since October) and they hadn't spoken for a few weeks, she still loved him as fiercely as before. And yet all the qualities of Enjolras that she saw more every single day, every single meeting, were more endearing each moment.

As she sat on the plane, it really made her realize how much her plan had worked. She noticed a passion, a fire, in Enjolras that she hadn't seen before. Even when she looked into his eyes, they were a bright, cerulean blue, kindled by zeal, whereas in October they had been foggy gray pools.

In fact, she hadn't realized how much the marble man was hiding until she tried to fix him. He still hadn't told her everything, but she would know. In time.

She peered out the window; the plane was rapidly approaching the ground and in a moment, she felt it touch down. Beside her, Grantaire was grinning. Enjolras, to her left, was stoic as ever, but he looked at her and she thought she saw a hint of a smile on his lips, and laughter in his eyes.

"New York, New York!" Courfeyrac sang as they got off the plane, much to Eponine's amusement. "So where we headed, Apollo?" asked R from behind her. Enjolras replied: "Terminal E. We have to get on a train and then get a car."

They nodded and began walking through the airport.

As they walked, Enjolras stole a glance at the dark-haired girl beside him. Eponine fascinated him. She had scars on her arms and one small one on her cheek. Her dark hair was tangled, yet clean, and her chocolate eyes shone with laughter and joy.

He was thinking about her so long that he nearly missed the train and Courfeyrac had to drag him back to the others. "Sorry," he said, blushing. Courfeyrac just grinned, and when he stared at Eponine, she was smiling too.

…

_June 11_

_Dear Diary,_

Eponine chewed her pencil for a moment, considering what to write. Her feet dangled off the end of the hotel bed. She was alone in the room, but the Les Amis had all gotten adjacent rooms with doors connected, so she wasn't truly on her own. Even at that moment, she could hear the laughter of Courfeyrac from the room left to her, and Enjolras's calm voice from the room right to her.

Without thinking, she grabbed the red jacket that had once again become hers, from the hook on the wall, and put it on. The smell of paper, warm and slightly musty, yet good, exuded from it. The familiar smell, the smell that filled Enjolras's apartment, instantly calmed her down, though she was not sure why.

She opened the glass door at the end of her room, and, carrying her diary, walked outside to the balcony. The stars shone in the sky, and she could see the city lights below her, and stretching out all around her. She could hear the horns of cars and see lights flashing all about the city, and yet, it was all strangely calm.

She picked up her pencil.

_What can I say? _she wrote. _I'm happy now._

Then, she opened the glass door and threw her diary and pencil on the couch. A light breeze blew her hair, and someone walked up beside her, arms crossed on the railing as he stared at the city.

Eponine didn't have to look to see who it was, but she did all the same, and Enjolras seemed lost in thought, staring out over the Big Apple.

"Hey," she said. He smiled, a real, true smile, and turned toward her. "Hey, 'Ponine," he murmured.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "For what?" he asked. "For this, for everything." she replied. He just stared at the city, an almost wistful expression on his face. "You know," he started, after a moment.

"What?" she asked. "You're going to be seventeen in one minute." He replied. She checked her watch, and indeed it read: 11:59. "Wanna come back to my room?" he asked. "At least, for a minute or so,"

She smiled softly. "There's nothing I would like better."

Enjolras grinned as they stepped off the deck. Grantaire and all the others had planned a surprise party for her, which was taking place in the golden-haired leader's room.

He could tell Eponine was surprised and a bit confused when she walked into his room and saw the pile of presents on the table. "What's going-" she started, but then all the Amis leaped out from their hiding places. "SURPRISE!" they shouted, and she blushed cherry red. But in a moment, a huge grin found it's way to her face as Joly and Bossuet brought out a gigantic cake from the kitchen. "How did you even bake that? We're in a hotel!" she exclaimed and they smiled.

"We went and bought it from Carlo's Bakery in New Jersey!" said Jehan, at the same time Feuilly said: "Bakeries are helpful."

Enjolras looked at her, and the surprise and delight on her face was wonderful to see. For a girl, so broken, so alone, to have a light, a happiness in her life again was wonderful. After all, she, among others, were who he was fighting for. He had planned it all out on the plane. But, he forced himself to put details of the rebellion out of his mind and to just enjoy the party…

Eponine grinned as her cake was cut and they all had huge slices on their plates. Hers was the middle, the piece that said: "Ponine," out of the message: "Happy B-Day, 'Ponine!"

Grantaire somehow procured a piñata and stick, as well as a blindfold. When she asked him why there was a piñata, he just grinned and said: 'Everyone needs to be a kid sometimes." He handed her the stick.

She smiled and whacked the piñata, nearly breaking it with one swing. Then it was Courfeyrac's turn, and he missed, crashing face first onto the couch due to the blindfold.

After Enjolras, Feuilly, Jehan, and Combeferre had all had their turns, Bossuet managed to break it with one strong blow, shattering it and spilling tons of candy onto the hotel floor.

Then, it was present time. Grantaire, Combeferre, and Courfeyrac all chipped in and bought her a brand new iPhone5. "It's already loaded with all our numbers and all your music," Jehan said shyly.

Next was Bahorel's gift of a sketchbook and colored pencils. "I heard you liked art," he said. After that followed a Captain America hoodie (Captain America was her favorite superhero), a pair of headphones, and a painting of the Musain (from Jehan, of course.)

Lastly, Enjolras came up to her and presented her with a small box. "I thought you'd like it," he said. She opened it and found a brown newsboy cap. She gasped. "It's perfect."

The biggest smile she'd ever seen on the marble man appeared, and the party continued on until 1:30 in the morning. Finally, they all grew tired, and all disappeared to their respective rooms. But not Eponine.

She fell asleep on Enjolras's couch, head on his shoulder the second night in a row.

**Okay, here's my ExR poem. (I just felt the need to post it.)**

**Words From A Drunk to a Revolutionary**

**You. **

**You stand, with papers in your hand.**

**Above the crowds you so captivate with your words.**

"**Vive le France, Vive Lemarque," you say, the people**

**hanging on to your every word.**

**Me. **

**Much less perfect, much less important.**

**I sit, with a bottle in my hand.**

**Staring at you from across the room.**

**Brown eyes meet blue, and I look away.**

**You.**

**Yes, it's true, I love everything about you.**

**The curl of your lip.**

**The shine of your hair.**

**That smile, teased out of you**

**By the people's support.**

**Oh how much I would do to see that smile.**

**Me.**

**Everyone thinks I don't believe.**

**Well, they're right.**

**I don't believe in most things.**

**But there is something I will always believe in.**

**You.**

**Your eyes, reflecting oceans,**

**Lingering pools of deepest cerulean.**

**You would do anything for us.**

**And yet, you would let us, and yourself die**

**For the cause.**

**Me. **

**I don't believe in the cause.**

**I don't believe in the king.**

**I don't even believe in my drink.**

**What do I believe in? Only I know.**

**You.**

**The way you talk.**

**Making everyone, everyone believe**

**In what you believe.**

**But not me.**

**Me.**

**What do I believe in?  
People say, "Pray tell,"**

**I just laugh and laugh.**

**And they walk away.**

**You.**

**You don't think I believe in anything.**

**Which, in truth, is a misjudgment.**

**You just turn away, frown on your face.**

**And me staring after you.**

**Because roses are red.**

**Violets are blue.**

"**You don't believe in anything."**

"**I believe in you."**


	20. Chapter 20: To Just Be Kids

**Hello again, lovelies! My wifi is up, and so you can expect a steady stream of chapters at least until my school starts on the 26****th****. But anyway, HAPPY CHAPTER 20! This is an extra super cute one!**

**Also, for the question for the chapter, since I forgot to post it last chapter, the favorite slash paring (your guys's vote) is Couf/Jehan! Woohoo! Anyway, chapter time, and LET'S GET 4 MORE REVIEWS TO BREAK A HUNDRED! WOOHOO! :D**

"It's really high up here," noticed Grantaire, leaning over the railing that kept patrons away from the glass that made up the building. "No," replied Courfeyrac sarcastically. "We're on the top of the Empire State Building, why wouldn't it be?" asked Eponine. Grantaire just shrugged.

It was 10:30 in the morning in New York City. All the Amis were sightseeing before they went and saw Les Miserables on Broadway that evening. At the moment, they were on the top floor of the Empire State Building. Eponine looked over. Jehan looked sort of green and kept glancing at the elevator. Bossuet was lying in the middle of the glass observatory deck and staring through the floor, Bahorel beside him. Courfeyrac and Grantaire were to either side of her, both leaning on the railing and staring through the glass. Enjolras was near the end of the observation deck, conversing with Combeferre about something. He seemed into the topic, as his eyebrows were creased in concentration and his eyes burned with passion that Eponine could see from 20 feet away.

"Alright everybody, we're going down!" Enjolras's voice broke through the clamor. Jehan was practically hanging on his arm, an expression of thanks on his face. The rest of the Amis, the ones who didn't have a fear of heights, sighed and trudged towards the elevators.

It took forever to go down, Eponine noticed. People kept getting on and off the elevator, at nearly every floor! Just when she was beginning to think that they were never going to reach the bottom, the doors opened to reveal the lobby. They all spilled off the elevators and emptied on to the street, where their rental cars were waiting.

"Where to next, Greg?" asked Grantaire. Enjolras turned toward him. "I don't know, Jimmy. Where do you want to go?"he asked, through clenched teeth.

Grantaire had such a look of shock on his face that Eponine almost burst out laughing, yet she sobered when she saw the apparent seriousness of the situation. Enjolras had a look of pure annoyance burning within the depths of his blue eyes and his fists were clenched. Grantaire looked surprised for a moment more, and then that same annoyance became visible on his face.

"Stop calling me Jimmy," he said quietly, and yet you could hear the power. All the Amis had stopped and were staring at the verbal fight, all silent. "Only when you stop calling me Greg," replied Enjolras, voice cool but angry.

They stared at each other for a moment more, each challenging the other, until Grantaire looked down. "Fine. Where to, Enj?"

"F.A.O Shwarz." replied Enjolras. All of the anger and tenseness immidiatly vanished from Grantaire's face. "The big toy store?" he asked gleefully. "Yep!" replied Enjolras. "Ooh! They have the floor pianos there!" exclaimed Courfeyrac.

And so the mood was high on the journey through town.

About a half-an-hour later, they arrived at the toy store. All the Amis ran inside joyously, excited to be kids again. "Look! The floor piano!" said Jehan. Grantaire and Courfeyrac immidiatly ran up to it. They stood on opposite ends of the piano and nodded to each other.

Then, Grantaire started to hop between the piano keys, starting the beat to what Eponine recognized to be "Heart and Soul." Then, Courfeyrac began to play the melody, gracefully jumping from key to key and not missing a beat. Jehan began to sing the words, and they had gathered quite a large crowd by the time the two had finished. Grantaire and Courfeyrac took a bow, and stepped off the piano as some people clapped.

"Where should we go next?" asked Bahorel. But Eponine already knew. She had seen a place from across the room: the life-sized ride-on stuffed animals section. She told the others so, and they ran across the room to the plush animals. "Who's riding what?" asked Bossuet. "I call the elephant!" shouted Grantaire, already climbing on the huge plush creature. "I got the giant hedgehog!" exclaimed Feuilly. "I want the giraffe!" said Jehan. "I call the dragon!" shouted Eponine.

For indeed it was. A huge green plush dragon, with four legs, two giant wings, and large horns atop its head. It had to be at least five feet tall and five feet long, and Eponine struggled to clamber on. A hand suddenly reached down to pull her up and she looked up to see Enjolras, already atop the dragon, extending a hand to her. She took his hand, and he pulled her up to sit in front of him.

She noticed Grantaire looking at her with a strange expression visible on his face. Was it… jealousy? She couldn't tell.

But she put those thoughts out of her mind as they gallivanted through the humongous toy store. They built a really long wooden train track for all the tiny wooden trains to go on, they played a few games of Settlers of Catan and went head to head on Mario Kart. They tried on sparkly pink and purple tutus (yes, even the guys) had puppet shows and karaoke contests, built a huge LEGO village and even played with Barbies for a while. (They used all the Barbie houses and each had a character with a wardrobe and a pet.)

When Enjolras finally checked the clock, he was shocked to see that it read 5:25. "We have to go, guys. The show starts at 7:00 and it's 5:30."

All of the Amis let out a collective groan. "We haven't even seen the third floor yet!" said Jehan. That made Grantaire laugh. "Let's go see Broadway. Some of those girls in the Barbie section were looking at us pretty weird."

This made everyone laugh. "Wait!" said Jehan! "I've got to go buy a tutu!" And so he ran to the right section, everyone trailing behind.

He picked a pink sparkly tutu, and looked positively gleeful as he checked out and bought it. "Alright everybody," he said, raising a fist in the air. "To Broadway!" shouted Courfeyrac, taking the lead as all the Amis ran out of F.A.O Shwarz and down the street.

…..

6:47. That's what Enjolras's phone said when he checked it. He looked around. All the Amis were, (for once) waiting patiently in their seats for the show to begin.

They had all dressed their best, most of the guys in suits, Grantaire in a dress shirt and slacks, Eponine in a dress, and Jehan in his nicest sweater. (Luckily Courfeyrac had talked him out of wearing the tutu.) He turned toward Eponine, next to him. She was in a formal black dress and a short blue jacket.

He had never remembered her willingly wearing a dress before, and he had to admit, she looked pretty. Even though he didn't like women, she was a fairly good-looking one, once her hair was washed and she was in fresh clothes, which was, he realized with a start, was because of him.

But, before he could get much farther in his thoughts, the lights dimmed and the curtain began its ascent. The show was beginning.

He was familiar with the story of Les Miserables, so he knew it was sad. And even so, he could feel his eyes growing a bit misty in some spots. When Fantine was singing  
"I Dreamed a Dream," he could hear soft sniffling from beside him. His gaze slid over to Eponine. She was sniffling quietly, and a single tear was silhouetted on her cheek.

_Never mind Eponine, _he thought. _Girls cry. No biggie. _

But when Fantine died, Eponine's sniffles turned to chocked sobs. He looked at her again and noted that she couldn't keep her eyes from the stage, yet tears were coursing down her cheeks and one of her hands was over her mouth, in a futile effort to quiet her weeping. Her other hand was tight, gripping the armrest between them.

_What harm can it do? _he asked himself, before placing one of his hands over hers on the armrest, squeezing it in an act of mutual comforting. She glanced at him, thanks clearly visible in her tear-filled eyes. He nodded and turned back to the show, hand not leaving hers until the curtain came up.

_I don't love her, _he told himself afterward. _It was just an act of comfort. I don't love her. Granted, there are things I love about her. Her laugh, her eyes, her little habits that have slowly become endearments. But I don't love her. I won't love her. Love is not something I'll waste time on. I don't love her._

But another voice, whispered in his head, too quiet for him to hear it. _Yes, you do, _it said. _You just can't see it yet._

**Cute? I hope so! **

**Read n' review!**

**Question of the chapter: Would you rather be Enjolras's Patria or Eponine's best friend?**


	21. Chapter 21: The Cafe on 48th

**Happy 3-Month anniversary, lovelies! And we've broken 100 reviews! I can't say how ABSOLUTLY AWESOME that is! I'm just so thankful that you all like my story and are willing to stick with me.**

**Bad news though- this is not one of those stories that will go on forever. IT had a beginning, middle, and end and I already know what they are. HOWEVER, I am going to write a prequel to this (called This is the Story of Us) and begin posting chapters after I finish this story (which won't be for a long time, I promise.)**

**Also, most of you would rather be Enjolras's Patria. Me too! Anyway, on to the chapter!**

_July 22_

_Dear Diary,_

_These last few weeks have been so amazing. I just can't believe it. Enjolras has been so kind, and I'm starting to feel like I'm an Amis now. Not a day goes by when I don't see at least one of them._

_Courfeyrac is really funny, but sometimes he can be really annoying too. A few days ago, I was asleep (for it was the middle of the night,) the bedroom door closed (Enjolras insisted that he take the couch a few weeks ago.) Suddenly, the apartment door opened and all the lights came on. I heard Courf shout: "Courfeyrac is in the house tonight! Everybody just have a good time!"_

_I started cracking up and opened my door. I was met with a very odd scene, Enjolras was glaring daggers at Courfeyrac, who was grinning. "IT'S 3 IN THE MORNING!" shouted Enjolras. Courfeyrac shrugged, grinning. I noticed that the key Courf had used to get into the apartment was still in the door, so I ran over and grabbed it, throwing it to Enjolras. We then both kicked Courf out and went back to bed, finding that we couldn't sleep to save our lives, so we eventually made some popcorn and got some icecream and had a movie marathon at 5:00 in the morning!_

_I go to all the meetings now. Enjolras has asked my opinions multiple times about good ideas for protest and finally settled on the welfare topic that he had first brought up at Christmas. We haven't really gotten very far on it, aside from some speeches. At least everyone agrees that something needs to be done…_

_I have grown to love the Amis, every single one of them. I'll go write poetry with Jehan, play cards with Feuilly, Bossuet, and Bahorel, play pranks with Courfeyrac and Grantaire (mostly on Enjolras) and talk about books with Joly and Combeferre. I spend almost no time with Marius any more, which, oddly, doesn't bother me…_

_I spend most of my time with Enjolras. He's not truly marble, he's just got a marble shell, and now that I've broken through it, we've become great friends. I've done everything with him, from getting coffee to climbing trees to building barricades out of lawn chairs (long story.) I'm closer with him then I ever was with Marius, and I think I might be starting to lov_

Eponine put her pen down when her phone rang. Her diary entry could wait.

"Ponine," a familiar voice went, and she breathed a sigh of terror mixed in with relief mixed in with even more emotions that she didn't even know. "Hey, 'Parnasse," she said, trying to sound upbeat.

"Meet me at the café on 48th."

Then, he hung up.

Eponine sat for a moment. She wasn't sure whether she loved Montparnasse or whether she thought he was a complete creeper, but she had learned one thing the hard way: refusing him was NOT a good plan.

So, she put on the newsboy cap Enjolras had given her, laced up her combat boots, and headed out the door. She didn't have to tell Enjolras where she was going; he had disappeared to the Musain earlier that day to get some work done before that night's meeting.

Eponine walked briskly down the road. For July 22nd, it was unseasonably chilly, and so she walked fast to keep herself warm.

She couldn't believe how fast the summer had flown. Her Junior year started on the 12th of August, and she had decided to go back to Musain High. Remarking on it, she wondered why the café and the high school had the same name, and where the names had even originated.

But all that flew out of her mind when she walked onto 48th Street and noted, with some dismay, that the only café to be seen was indeed, Café Musain. It only then crossed her mind that she had never noticed which street the Musain was located on.

She didn't want to have Enjolras see her with Montparnasse, for reasons she had no idea, but 'Parnasse had actually caused her physical pain in the past when she ahd refused a meeting with him.

She sighed. "What choice do I have?" she asked herself, before entering the café.

She noted, with much relief, that Enjolras appeared to be in the upstairs room, given that she didn't see him downstairs. However, she did see 'Parnasse sitting in a corner table. She sighed and walked over.

He grinned a foul grin when he saw her coming. "How's my Eponine?" he asked. "Good," she replied, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. "I heard you landed in a bit of a sweet spot," he said, trying to grope her butt. She quickly moved out of the way. "Why does it matter to you?" she asked.

"Listen, I'm not going to tell your father about this little meeting, because you love me and you rely on me for everything,"

Eponine opened her mouth to say that she didn't, but he grinned a greasy grin and put one finger to her lips. "I wasn't finished yet. Well, your father's looking for you, and I've half a mind to tell him where you're hiding, if I only knew."

He cast a significant glance over her clothing and clean hair. "You seem to have landed in a bit of luck." He took one strand of her curly hair between his fingers and she recoiled. There had been a time when she had loved Montparnasse, once, amd there was a tiny part of her still did, but that was all before Marius had stolen her heart.

"So, dear 'Ponine, tell me where you live or I will cut you," he whispered the last four words in her ear, very quietly. Eponine glanced over to the other end of the café, where the stairs to go upstairs were. She saw Combeferre emerge and walk down the steps. _Not good, not good, _she thought.

"So, where are you living?" he purred. "Why should I tell you?" she said, trying to sound defiant, and failing.

She felt something on her leg and looked down to see that he was rubbing her thigh with his hand. "Because you love me," he said foully. She shook her head. "I don't love you,"

"Oh yes you do," he said, voice dripping with acid. She glanced to the stairs again, and, to her growing horror, saw a head of golden curls by the counter. Enjolras turned around, coffee in hand. Their eyes met, and she saw that his were filled with disbelief and something she couldn't identify, though it looked strangely like jealousy, though she couldn't be certain.

"You love me, I know you do. You always have!" snarled Montparnasse. A look of absolute terror on her face, she glanced at Enjolras again, to see that he was pushing through people towards her. "You love me," growled Montparnasse again. And that's when all hell broke loose.

**Ehehehehehehe CLIFFHANGER! Aren't I evil! You'll just have to wait and see what happens… :D**

**Love you all! **

**Question of the chapter:**

**E/R or E/E?**


	22. Chapter 22: Cut to the Neck

**Hello, my lovelies! Happy Frabulous Friday! I hope you're excited for Chapter 22! I sure am! **

**Also, the majority of you prefer Enjonine over Enjoltaire. **

**And Enjolras, I'm sorry in advance. Don't kill me!**

"You love me," growled the greasy, frightening looking teenager. "YOU LOVE ME!"

Enjolras had been weaving in and out of the crowd in the café, and at that moment, he began to run, though it made no difference. The teenager grabbed Eponine, his Eponine, and pressed her against the wall, his hands at her throat, strangling her. "SAY YOU LOVE ME!" he shouted, but that was as far as he got before Enjolras reached him and socked him in the jaw. He recoiled, taking his hands off of Eponine. "You want a fight, bourgeois?" he asked, mockingly. He turned toward Eponine, to find she was not there. She was sitting on the floor, breathing hard, looking terrified.

Enjolras didn't answer, but the greasy man pushed him onto the street. He tried to punch Enjolras, but the golden haired revolutionary caught his fist and drove it downward. The other man just grinned and kneed him in the crotch, smiling icily as Enjolras fell to the ground, groaning.

Enjolras was about to get up, but the man pressed a hand to his throat. Not hard, but enough to make Enjolras lie still for fear of being choked. In an instant, the man had whipped out a butterfly knife and spun it, almost lazily, in his fingers until the blade popped out. He quickly took his hand away from Enjolras's throat and pressed the knife there instead, pushing just hard enough to see blood. "Now tell me," he purred. "Why were you protecting my Eponine?"

"She's not yours."

"Oh, is that so?" asked the man mockingly. "Eponine?" he called.

There was no answer for a moment, so he called again. "Eponine, dearest, get over here!"

Suddenly, Enjolras heard the choked, trying to stay strong voice of Eponine. "Don't hurt him."

"Ah ha," grinned the man maliciously. "He's your spot of luck, is he?"

"Let him go, 'Parnasse," stated Eponine defiantly, but Enjolras could not see her. All he could see was the man, pressing a knife to his throat, his long, greasy strands of hair almost hitting Enjolras in the face when he bent over him.

"Are you in his bed every night?" mocked the man called Parnasse. "Does he make love to you every night, like I did?"

"LIAR!" screamed Eponine, and Enjolras heard the scuffling of feet, yet all he could see was the man above him and… Combeferre?

For it was. Combeferre, his beloved right-hand man, was sneaking up behind Montparnasse and in an instant, had him by the shirt. "No he doesn't." said Combeferre. "And neither will you."

Montparnasse growled and took the knife off of Enjolras's throat. He stood up, pushing Combeferre out of the way. "Mark my words, blondie," he said, pointing at Enjolras. "You will pay. You will."

Then, just like that, he swept around the corner and was gone. Enjolras looked around for Combeferre and found him gone. He pressed a hand to his throat, and, to his horror, saw a smudge of red on his fingertips. It didn't hurt, but he was tired. He had been working hard for a while…

Enjolras shut his eyes and slumped to the pavement, unbeknownst of the blood trickling out of the gash on his neck.

….

"Enjolras?" asked Eponine, running up to him. "Enjolras?" She had seen him pass out and had run towards him fast as she could. She knelt on the pavement, cradling his head in her lap. Combeferre sprinted up to her. "Enj!" he exclaimed.

Eponine turned to the crowd of people standing behind her with mouths open. "Don't just stand there! Somebody call 911!" A person got his phone out and dialed the numbers. "An ambulance is on its way," he told her. She nodded in thanks and turned toward Enjolras again. The cut on his neck didn't appear to be very deep, but blood was slowly trickling out. She immediately took off her sweatshirt and pressed it to the wound.

Suddenly, she heard sirens and saw an ambulance stop nearby. Medics rushed out with a stretcher and loaded him onto it. One nodded to Eponine. "You did well. Now go home." She stubbornly shook her head. "I'm the person who knows him best. Even better then Combeferre," she added, pointing to Ferre. "So give me a ride. You need someone to vouch for him anyway."

Sighing, the medic nodded and gestured to the back of the ambulance. She climbed in next to the unconscious Enjolras, and the doors were closed. The ambulance rushed towards the nearest hospital.

Eponine brushed her cheek with a finger and found it wet. _I'm crying?_

She rubbed her cheek again, in an effort to stop the tears, but gave up when she realized that Enjolras, her Enjolras, the man she had come to consider as a best friend, was unconscious and injured from a man she had once called lover. "Mark my words, Parnasse. You will pay for this. I will find you, don't you worry. And you will wish you hadn't been born!" she promised herself.

Then, she turned toward Enjolras. She gripped one of his hands tightly, threading her fingers between his. "Oh Enj," she prayed. "Please wake up. You have to wake up. Please. We need you. I need you most of all,"

Telling him was as much for him as it was for herself. Then, she bent down and gently pressed her lips to his forehead. To her surprise, it was burning hot. "Get better, Enj." she whispered.

Suddenly, the ambulance stopped and the back door opened. The medics wheeled Enjolras out and brought him inside on the stretcher. She followed them inside and went up to the counter. "I'm with him."

The matronly woman looked up at her through large glasses. "I'm sorry, hon. What happened?" She sighed, wiping tears from her nose. "The Patron-Minette's what happened."

The woman sighed and stood up, opening her arms. Eponine embraced her, tears flooding down her cheeks. "What's his name?" she asked. "Gregory Enjolras," replied Eponine. The secretary typed some things in. "He'll be in Room 202. They'll call me with a condition sooner or later, and then I'll tell you."

Eponine nodded. "Thanks," she choked out. The woman nodded. "Of course, hon. Any time."

Eponine found an empty chair at an empty table and sat down. She saw a TV remote and turned on the flatscreen, flipping through all the channels one by one, over and over, until a large arm grabbed her. She looked up to see a man in a very large hat and trenchcoat, covering all of his face. "There's someone that wants to talk to you."

Eponine didn't say anything, but went back to flipping through her channels. The man grabbed her and forced her through the hospital doors to the street, which was dark save for streetlights. She checked her phone and found that it was 10:00 at night.

The man dragged her to the corner of the street, where she found Montparnasse. He stepped toward her, reaching out a hand. She slapped it back. "Get away from me!" she shrieked. He smiled, a grin full of oil. "But you love me."

"I'VE NEVER LOVED YOU!" she screamed. "YOU'RE A LYING. CHEATING BASTARD WHO ALMOST KILLED MY BEST FRIEND!"

Montparnasse sighed. "Oh, Eponine. What to do with you. Who do you love, darling?" he asked, tilting her chin up with one finger.

"You want to know?" she growled. "Yes, my sweet." he replied.

"I love him."

Then, she socked him in the jaw and went back inside the hospital without another word.

**Would you rather be Eponine, Cossette, or Musichetta?**


	23. Chapter 23: Not Strenous, Eh?

**Hello again, my dear lovelies! I just can't explain how much it means to me to have you all loving this story. It means so much! So, as a reward for everything you absolutely wonderful people do for me, here's Chapter 23! I promise it's quite adorable. You'll like it!**

**Also, you would rather be Eponine or Musichetta.**

The first thing Enjolras knew was a throbbing in his head. He opened his eyes and looked around; he appeared to be in a hospital room. He could see the I.V connected to his arm, and see the bed with white sheets and… Eponine?

He turned his head, afraid his eyes were deceiving him. But no, it was indeed her, sitting in a chair beside his bed, head slumped. Sleeping. He became aware of a tingling in his hand, a good sort of feeling, and looked down to see that his fingers were intertwined with Eponine's.

His head throbbed painfully, drowning out the question as to why Eponine was holding his hand and making him press his fingers to his head. He found that it was burning hot, then realized that he was burning hot.

_What's wrong with me?_

He sank back to the pillow, squeezing Eponine's hand as he slipped back into the arms of oblivion.

….

He felt a cool hand on his forehead. He didn't know to whom the hand belonged, all he knew was that it was cool, a blessed respite from the burning hot he felt all over. Sighing, he leaned into the touch, earning a surprised gasp from someone. "I think he's awake," murmured a voice that could only be Eponine. "You awake, Enj?" asked another voice that sounded like Grantaire.

Suddenly, he smelled the familiar and comforting aroma of rich vanilla and lavender. The smell of Eponine. Instantly, he felt calmed and the fever seemed to go away. He cracked open his eyes, and to his immense relief, saw the dark haired girl standing above him, hand pressed gently to his forehead. "Eponine," he sighed. She smiled, and her eyes were especially bright, tear-bright.

"Enjolras," she murmured. "You're awake."

Suddenly, another voice startled him. "What are we, chopped liver?"

He turned his head to find his best friends waiting for him: Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Jehan, Joly, Grantaire, Bossuet, Bahorel, and Feuilly. Courfeyrac had such a hilarious

expression on his face that Enjolras cracked a smile.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well," started Grantaire.

"Montparnasse of the Patron-Minette attacked you, cut your neck, and basically beat you up. You passed out, got a very bad fever, and here you are waking up," said Jehan.

"What day is it?" he asked. "July 23," replied Grantaire. "You were out for nearly a day!"

That explained the feeling of hunger gnawing at his belly. As if in response, his stomach rumbled loudly and all of the Amis laughed. He pressed a hand to his forehead and felt that it wasn't burning hot anymore, just warm.

He turned toward Eponine. She had an immensely relieved expression on her face, though he was not sure why. Suddenly, the door to his room opened and in ran a young woman in white scrubs. He heard Courfeyrac wolf whistle quietly.

"Oh, you're awake," she said to Enjolras. He nodded sarcastically and Eponine bit back the urge to laugh. It was nice to see that he was back to his old self again.

But what of her? Even if Enjolras was Enjolras again, she felt even less her then she ever had before. She had told Montparnasse that she had loved Enjolras just to piss him off, truly, but on her walk back to the hospital, she had found herself believing it.

_No, Eponine, _she told herself when she felt her mind wandering back down that familiar path. _Remember what happened with Marius? You loved him, but did he love you? Enjolras will never love you. He'll never love anyone but his stupid Patria._

Eponine blinked in surprise as the nurse abruptly left the room. "Whew!" said Courfeyrac. "You're free to go!"

"Yeah, I just got to go to the front desk," he said, getting out of the hospital bed. "And where the heck are my clothes?"

Everyone shared a laugh, and Courfeyrac opened the cabinet next to the bed, retrieving a plastic bag. "Here they are," he said, handing the bundle to Enjolras, who retreated to the bathroom to get dressed.

A few minutes later, all of the Amis were standing in front of the counter. "Gregory Enjolras," the secretary said. "You are good to go. Come back on August 16 to get your stitches out, and don't do anything too strenuous until then. Also, sleep a lot until your fever subsides. Just rest for the next week or so. I promise, it will do you good."

Enjolras thanked him, subconsciously touching his throat. He felt a long gash where Montparnasse had cut him, and could feel the stitches. He also felt hot to the touch, but that was the fever.

"Not strenuous?" asked Courfeyrac mischievously when they had gotten outside. "I know what's not strenuous."

"What?" Enjolras asked, dreading the answer. "A movie marathon!" replied the exuberant young man. "I have all eight Harry Potter movies, I can bring them all over and everybody else can bring snacks!"

"We have a buttload of microwave popcorn and some tubs of ice cream!" cut in Eponine. "I baked some cookies yesterday," added Jehan.

"Alright everybody," said Courfeyrac, standing on a bench. "Let's all go buy some junk food, like sodas, candy, or whatever you want, just make sure it's enough for everybody, and we'll meet at Enjolras and Eponine's apartment in an hour." He turned to them.

"You guys set up the living room and pop the popcorn," he said. Eponine nodded enthusiastically. She turned to Enjolras, who looked less then amused. Once all the rest of the Amis had piled into their respective cars and driven off, he sighed loudly. She turned to him. "What's wrong?"

"This wasn't even my idea!" he pointed out. She smiled. "They're the Amis, what do you expect?"

He laughed a small laugh. "I guess you're right,"

"Now come on. Let's go home, I'll get you some fever medicine and pop some popcorn, and we'll watch some movies. You can even fall asleep if you want. I know I will,"

He seemed to take some comfort in that, and so they got into the car and drove home.

….

"Enjolras?" Eponine asked from the kitchen, where she was popping popcorn. No reply. "How's the living room looking?"

He had volunteered to set up the living room while she cooked, and she had not heard from him in a few minutes. She peeked out from the kitchen. The living room was looking good. The couch was in one corner, the table in another, creating a sort of square with the wall. Pillows and blankets were laid all over the floor, creating a cushy seat for anyone who sat down. And Enjolras was on the couch. She walked over to him curiously, to find that he was asleep, one leg dangling off the couch and body parts at odd angles. She assumed he had fallen asleep accidentally.

She sat down gently beside him, pressing a hand to his forehead. "Oh Enj, you're burning up."

The fever he had seemed to have subsided when they had checked it not an hour before, registering at 99. But it seemed to have spiked again. "I'm worried about you, Enj," she murmured.

"What?" a groggy voice asked. She looked down in surprise; Enjolras had opened his eyes. "You're hot again," she murmured. "Are you sure you don't just want to go to bed?"

He smiled tiredly. "I'll just sleep through the movies." She grinned. "You can sleep on me if you like, I don't care."

"I couldn't do that," he said, almost stiffly. "Why?" she asked. "I wouldn't want to invade on your privacy."

She laughed. "You wouldn't."

Just then, they heard a knock on the door. They both hastily got up, Enjolras to look awake and Eponine to answer it. She opened the door to find Courfeyrac, grinning, with some shopping bags. He dumped them on the coffee table and pulled out a stack of DVDs. Flipping on the TV, he stuck one in and the interactive menu for Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone came up. "There," he said, pleased.

Turning around, he opened the other bag to reveal a box. "Fried chicken," he exclaimed. Then, he pulled out another box. "Waffles." She snorted and he laughed.

Just then, the doorbell rang again and this time it was Jehan with a huge plate of artfully frosted cookies and Grantaire with a bunch of sodas and some movie theater candy.

A few moments later, all the Amis were there, sitting or lying all around the living room, and the feast was laid out on the coffee table. Chicken and waffles, popcorn, cookies, and soda wasn't even half of it. There was a gigantic bowl of candy (any type you preferred) and another huge bowl full of pudding.

Someone had brought a chocolate pie, and there were about 6 bags of marshmallows. Also included were Haribo gummies, chocolate covered strawberries, and a large tin of caramel corn. Also included were a few bags of Oreos, and another bag of Chips Ahoy completed the junk bonanza.

"Alright," said Courfeyrac. "No stopping the movie while it's playing. Bathroom breaks are between movies in 15 minute intervals. So if anybody needs anything, get it now."

All the Amis shifted in their seats to get more comfortable, yet nobody got up. Eponine was sitting on the couch, her legs draped across the cushions. Enjolras sat below her, on the floor. She motioned for him to come up, and he, reluctantly enough, stood up. She picked up her legs, but once she had sat down, draped them over him again, resuming her original positon. He stiffened for a moment, but then relaxed, leaning back against the couch.

Combeferre dimmed the lights and the movie marathon began. Eponine watched intently for the first hour or so, but then she felt a weight settle on her. She looked down and saw that Enjolras had lied down over her legs, head on her lap. He closed his eyes, settling back.

She smiled despite herself, and, looking around, smiled even more when she found no one had noticed. Reaching out an arm, she found that she could still reach the snack table quite comfortably without moving. She set her soda down on the table; it appeared she wouldn't be moving for a while.

Turning back to Enjolras, she gently reached a hand down and pressed her palm lightly to his forehead. He felt warm to the touch, but not burning hot as she had feared. His fever was odd. It seemed to go up and down. He didn't seem to mind. At least, he wasn't complaining.

She took her hand off his forehead and began to play with his wonderful, messy curls. Just running her fingers gently through at first, then burying them deep within his lovely locks, as she had seen him do many times when he was stressed.

His eyes fluttered open, and she was about to take her hand away, but his hand flew up and kept hers in place. "Don't stop," he whispered. "Please don't stop,"

She smiled a tiny smile. "Of course."

"I just don't want to do this, 'Ponine. I'm just so tired."

"Then sleep. I don't mind, I promise."

He smiled faintly. "Good night, 'Ponine."

"Good night, 'Jolras," she said, voice warm.

He closed his eyes, and she resumed gently carding her fingers through his soft hair, until she too, fell asleep.

**Would you rather be Marius or Enjolras? (Hard, I know…) :D**

**Love you all!**

**P.S: Updates will probably be coming a bit less frequently because my school starts next Monday. Anyways, love you all!**

**-crescentmoonthemage**


	24. Chapter 24: Little Insecurities

**Hello, lovelies! I wanted to get one more chapter out to you before my school starts on Monday, so here it is! And for those of you thinking that Enjolras and Eponine might turn into Enjonine soon, not yet. Not yet. But they are growing closer.**

**And as I guessed, most of you would rather be Enjolras.**

Eponine was awoken by a small, very quiet squeak. She listened again. Footsteps. She figured somebody must have opened the apartment door and was now in the living room. She peeked out. She didn't see anyone but Enjolras on the couch, and he hadn't stirred. She checked the clock. 3:24 A:M.

Suddenly, music started blaring, and she heard a familiar voice sing: "COURFEYRAC IS IN THE HOUSE TONIGHT! EVERYBODY JUST HAVE A GOOD TIME!"

She stormed into the kitchen. Courfeyrac was standing in the middle of the kitchen, with a plate of cookies in his hand, rocking out to Party Rock Anthem. "What the bloody hell are you doing?" she asked, angry but also amused. He pushed the plate of cookies into her hand. "FORGIVNESS!"

Then, he opened the kitchen window and jumped onto the ground, running off.

She grinned, shaking her head. Suddenly, she heard more footsteps and a very, very groggy Enjoras joined her in the kitchen, curls sticking up every which way and blue eyes drowsy. "The hell was Courf doing in our house?"

"I have no idea," she replied.

"The couch is so uncomfortable!" he complained. She almost laughed. When he was tired, he acted like a small child. "Then sleep in the bed with me, I don't care. It's plenty big."

She knew that he would complain to her when he was fully awake for school the next day, but she didn't care. He nodded slowly and disappeared towards the bedroom.

Eponine followed a moment later, and laughed to see Enjolras sprawled all across the bed, on top of the covers, snoring. On impulse, she gently rolled him over and tucked him under the covers, laying down beside him. It was nothing romantic. They were just friends, and that's all they would ever be. She was happy with that. After all, no man would ever like her. She was just little, dirty, Eponine who hung out with boys. She would never become one of the popular girls, who had the right to fall in love with the Amis. Or to date them.

She knew it, and convinced herself of it, and yet she wondered why it hurt. Knowing that Enjolras would never love her hurt a lot more then knowing that Marius would never love her, and she didn't know why.

She slowly climbed out of bed, and, grabbing her treasured diary and a pen, retreated to the windowsill to write.

_August 22_

_Dear Diary,_

_Tomorrow is the start of my junior year. I have my Amis, I'm not lacking there. I have Enjolras, no matter what he says about it. But there is one thing I will never have. _

_I'm just Eponine. That's all I am. Nobody would ever want to date me, much less Enjolras. Why do I bother with love? Why? Nobody will ever want to love me back, because I can't give them anything. I'm just a small, dirty girl who loves but will never be loved. That is the truth of me. That is who I am. And it hurts, it does. But it's the truth._

Tears began to fall from her eyes, splattering on the paper. And there she sat, Eponine, with a group of friends and yet more alone then she'd ever felt before.

…..

A few hours later, it was almost time to leave for school in Enjolras's car. He hadn't said anything about waking up in his own bedroom, so she didn't really bring it up.

…..

Enjolras slipped into the bedroom for a moment, to grab their bags, when he noticed a small notebook resting on the windowsill. He noticed that it was full of writing, and he read it. His mouth opened in shock, and his heart filled with sadness, pity, and love.

He grabbed a pen and wrote some lines on a blank page beside it, then ripped it out. He meant to throw it away, but when he closed the notebook and stuck it into Eponine's bag, he didn't realize that he had neglected to do so.

They drove to the school. Enjolras seemed especially quiet that morning, and she didn't know why. Whenever she looked at him, he had an odd expression on his face. Not thought, she'd seen that on him so often. It was something bordering on sadness. But she didn't ask.

When they departed for their different classes, Enjolras did something strange, something he did not mean to do and yet did anyway. He opened his arms and embraced her, still not saying a word. "Feel better, 'Ponine," he murmured, and then he walked off toward his class, worried about his friend.

…

Eponine was left wondering what he had meant. She felt fine, what was he talking about? Shaking her head, she continued on to her art class. When she got there, the teacher talked for a bit about supplies, and expectation, none of which Eponine was listening too. She was still lost in thought.

Suddenly, the teacher announced their assignment. "Draw an emotion. That's all I will tell you. Any emotion you please, just an emotion." Paper was passed around, students murmured as they thought.

Eponine put pencil to paper, and before she even knew what she was drawing, a clear pencil image appeared, of her, sitting on the windowsill, writing in her diary, tears coursing down her cheeks. She bit her pencil, tears came to her eyes, but she kept drawing, and suddenly, a reflection of Enjolras appeared in the window, smiling. She was beside him, and she was happy also. But that was not to be. Tears slipping down her cheeks, she handed the paper in and the small, thin teacher congratulated her. "Art is to feel. And you, dear, are feeling. You may step outside if you need to."

Eponine nodded in thanks, and, taking her bag, stepped outside the classroom to sit in a small alcove in the hallway. She unzipped her bag forcefully and began sifting through the contents to find her diary. She found the small, leather-bound notebook instantly, and she opened it to a blank page, but a small page fell out, crumpled up. It appeared that the page had been ripped out, but not thrown away. She opened it curiously.

**Dear Eponine,**

**You think you don't count for anything? You do count, and I've always trusted you. I'm sorry for that, I'm sorry. I really am. But you do count, and you can always date us Amis. You know how we love you. All of us do.**

She smiled a faint smile. The paper did bring her some comfort, but only because Enjolras had neglected to say that he was not part of the "we." But how could she know?

And little known to her, a golden haired boy in another classroom wondered the same thing about himself.

**Would you rather be Grantaire or Combeferre?**


	25. Chapter 25: No Less Confusion

**Hello again my lovelies! I am sorry it's been so long, but I wanted to give you something quick in my spare time. My schedule is SO FULL but I knew I owed you something too, so here it is, Chapter 25! **

Eponine was cooking a turkey.

Such an odd thing to say on a normal day-to-day basis, but given that it was Thanksgiving, it was perfectly normal.

All the Amis were celebrating Thanksgiving at Enjolras's parents house. They had gotten word that his parents were out of town, so Courfeyrac had decided to commandeer a huge party. Enjolras had protested at first, but given his giant dislike of his parents, he had finally agreed.

Eponine checked the time. 2:30. She had two hours before they were due to be at the Enjolras house, and everyone had to bring a dish. She loved cooking, and so, naturally, volunteered to bring the Thanksgiving staple.

She wasn't sure where Enjolras had gone; he had vanished about an hour prior, saying he had something to do. But she wasn't worried. She had a large bird to worry over instead.

She checked the turkey quick, and then turned on her favorite music: Broadway soundtracks. Musical theatre was her passion, and when Enjolras found out, he had bought her some of her favorite soundtracks.

She was dancing around the kitchen, singing I'm Alive at the top of her lungs when she heard the door open. A very amused looking Enjolras came into the kitchen, holding some bags. "Having fun?"

She shut off the music quickly, her face reddening. "Where did you go?" she asked.

"The Musain, to pick up some pies." He held open the bags, and Eponine could see two pumpkin pies, what appeared to be a chocolate mousse pie, and what was that paper bag Enjolras was extending to her? Donuts!

"You bought me donuts? Thank you so much!" she exclaimed. He handed her the bag and she opened it eagerly to find three of her favorite donuts. Enjolras also handed her an espresso. "You're the best!" she mumbled through bites.

…

A few hours later, Enjolras and Eponine drove up to a very large, very imposing house. "Whoa," Eponine breathed. "Are you rich?"

Enjolras's cheeks reddened. "Yeah. We are."

Without another word, the two of them grabbed the food and walked up to the house. Courfeyrac answered the door. "Hey guys!" he exclaimed. "Ooh, food!" She laughed and set the large turkey down on the dining room table. Enjolras followed suit with the pies. Courfeyrac was dancing about the kitchen, bubbling on and on about how great the dinner would be. He bubbled all until everyone had arrived, and the food was all set out. Besides Eponine's turkey and the three pies, there were two dishes of mashed potatoes, some cranberries, some hamburgers, a great tub of stuffing, some fruit salads, and a large bowl of chocolate (courtesy of Gavroche, to everyone's great amusement.)

All the Amis sat down to eat, and they exchanged funny stories. Combeferre told about the time Enjolras got drunk and walked into a pole, and the very embarrassed leader retorted with the time Combeferre had gotten the wrong prescription for his glasses and mistaken Montparnasse for Courfeyrac.

After dinner, they took all the pies to the living room and sat in a huge circle. "Alright, truth or dare time," said Bossuet evilly. The group let out a collective groan. Bossuet rubbed his hands together. He glanced at everyone, before coming to rest on Feuilly. "Truth or dare, Feuilly," he said.

"Um, dare," replied the fan maker.

"I dare you to not talk about Poland at all for the next 2 hours. If anyone notices you mentioning something about Poland, we get to take one of your Polish sausages."

Feuilly grinned. "I got this. I'm gonna make Poland proud."

The Amis burst out laughing until Feuilly realized what he had done and turned tomato red. "Lets keep a tally of how many sausages we get to eat," laughed Courfeyrac.

"Alright, Bahorel," said Feuilly. "Truth or dare,"

"Dare," replied Bahorel without hesitation. Feuilly thought for a moment, before saying: "Take off all your clothes, except for your boxer shorts."

"That's easy!" exclaimed Bahorel. "I wasn't finished," said Feuilly. "Then, go down door and knock on the doors until somebody answers. Then, hold a conversation with them for a full minute."

Everybody burst out in hoots of laughter. Bossuet took off all his clothes, revealing purple and green striped boxer shorts. He ran out the door and to the next house over, everyone scrambling to watch from the window. No one answered, so he went to the next house and knocked again. An old lady answered, and looked very surprised to see Bossuet there. He talked with her for a minute or so, and then the lady went inside for a moment, and came back with a piece of pie. She handed it to Bossuet, who thanked her profusely before running back to join the others.

"She gave me some pie! That was sweet!" he exclaimed, much to the amusement of the others.

Truth or Dare went on for a while, coming out with ridiculous results. Marius had to run down the street naked, Joly had to survive everyone coughing on him without washing his hands, and Courfeyrac had to answer a question about whether he was a virgin.

Then came Eponine's turn. Courfeyrac turned toward her. "Truth or Dare," asked Jehan. She thought for a moment, before replying: "Dare."

"I dare you to kiss Enjolras," he announced. She turned bright red, and turning to the boy in question, she found that he was as red as she was, blushing to the very roots of his curls and making the golden color shine even more.

Before he or anyone else could object, she placed a quick peck on his lips and then pulled away without a word. Everyone looked shocked that she actually did it. Enjolras coughed awkwardly, and so the game continued.

…

Later that night, the game had wound down, they had played a few rounds of football and all the games, and most of everybody had passed out all over the gigantic living room. Eponine was about to go to bed too, but she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned around, to see Enjolras standing there, a question in his cerulean eyes.

"Can I talk to you for sec?" he asked. She nodded, and he led her up some stairs and down a hall until they ended up on the roof.

"What's up, Enj?" she asked, casually as she could, trying to hide her racing heart.

"Why?" was all he asked.

"Why what?"

"Why did you kiss me?"

He posed the innocent enough question, but the very one she was dreading to hear most. What was she supposed to say? That she was madly in love with him? That she knew he would never like a liar, a thief like herself? What should she say? That she figured he would just let her fall like Marius had?

She shrugged as casually as she could, saying the first thing that came to her mind. "It was a dare."

She thought she saw a tiny flicker of something she was sure she recognized flit through his waterfall eyes, but then it was gone. He nodded stiffly. "Very well, Eponine."

That one sentence nearly broke her. She felt as if the strange friendship that they had built over a year had swiftly crumbled, all the "Ponines" and the "Enjys" had disappeared with that stern little sentence.

"I'm going to bed. Good night, Enjolras," she managed, trying to hide the pain in her voice and the tears quickly welling in her eyes. She turned around and began to walk away, but didn't get very far before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see the golden haired leader standing there, and she was sure that she saw a bit of disappointment in his eyes now.

He pressed a swift kiss to her cheek, and then pulled away just as fast. She heard a whispered: "Good night, 'Ponine,' and then he left her standing on the roof, as confused as ever and not any less hurt.


End file.
